THANE: The Thane crime branch has busted a tar adulteration racket following the arrest of a person assigned the job of transporting tar from a company to a site.
The police said that the modus operandi was to mix high quality tar used in the making of roads with marble dust.
The accused,
Mukim Abdul Rehman of
Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh , was working for a local transporter and driving a tanker filled with tar, which was to be transported from the
Hindustan Petroleum Private Limited (HPCL) located in
Mahim to the Bitumen Drum Fill Plant at Wadpe in Bhiwandi.
“Rehman, in connivance with other accused, was trapped by the crime branch sleuths on the alleged charges of adulterating tar used for surfacing with other powders and delivering the same to the consignee,” said the police. A tanker, adulterated tar and other material collectively worth Rs 19.97 lakh with the stock of tar itself costing around Rs 4.57 lakh were seized.
“As assigned by the transporter, the driver took the tanker from Mahul and on the way removed two tonnes of tar valued at Rs 39,731 and sold it to some persons,” said Aviraj Kurhade, assistant inspector, crime branch.
In order to compensate for the stock pilfered and to bring the tanker to the original weight, the driver and his cleaner filled the tanker again with white marble mixed power, added the police. The tanker was seized at a place near Parsik Naka, said
Shrisail Chivadshetty, assistant inspector.
A senior cop said that due to the adulteration, the quality of tar is degraded, which if used, damages the road surface to a large extent.
“The chain involved in the racket seems to be huge and this will be thoroughly probed, said a police officer.
