Hazaribag: Two persons have been arrested for the kerosene blast deaths in Hazaribag’s sadar block last week, police said on Saturday. Hazaribag SP Karthik S said Shankar Yadav, driver of the oil tanker in which kerosene was supplied to PDS shops, and Vidyasagar Guddu of Ormanjhi (Ranchi) have been arrested for running a fuel pilferage racket. At least five persons died in different kerosene blasts and over a dozen were injured.
Based on preliminary probe, the district administration had stated that the kerosene stocks supplied to the PDS shops were adulterated and filed an FIR against a firm named Army Trading Company, which was responsible for picking up stocks from the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) depot.
Karthik said, “We first arrested the driver of the oil tanker and he gave us vital information about the deaths. He confessed that he used to pilfer petrol and diesel from the tanker with help of Guddu. After one such pilferage, he could not wash the tanker and carried kerosene for supply on January 12. As a result, petrol got mixed with kerosene and caused the explosions.”
Police said Guddu has also confessed that he was involved in the racket for some time. “Our probe is on and we are trying to trace the entire network and make more arrests,” Karthik said. SDPO (headquarters) Mahesh Prajapati said that police have sent both to jail after producing them before a local court and slapping cases under relevant sections of IPC and Essential Commodities Act.