Oil pilfered from Karnal IndianOil pipeline
New Delhi   27-Sep-2012

Miscreants reportedly pilfered thousands of litres of oil near Nilokheri in Karnal district by puncturing the Mathura-Karnal-Jalandhar oil pipeline of the IndianOil.

A patrol party of the IndianOil comprising superviser Jaswant Singh, gunman Jeevan Singh and driver Ram Niwas, on routine duty, spotted a five-feet deep pothole dug by the miscreants and a 30-feet long pipe, a drilling device to puncture the pipeline for siphoning oil, a spade and a pair of chappals lying by the side.

The spot on the Raipur Rodan- Badthal road on the outskirts of Nilokheri is at an obscure location and not visible from the main road.

The patrolling party members informed senior officers of the IndianOil.

Chief manager of the IndianOil Deepak Khanna and operations manager Jasjit Singh rushed to the spot. A team of forensic experts from FSL also reached there and collected fingerprints to identify the culprits.

The oil supply had been stopped and the pipeline was being repaired, said an IndianOil official. The police registered a case and started investigations along with IndianOil officials. It was yet to be ascertained for how long this operation had been going on and how much oil had been pilfered.

The Indri deputy superintendent of police, Gurdial Singh, said the tools used by the miscreants had been seized and efforts were being made to identify them.

The IndianOil officers were unable to provide any information about the quantity of petrol siphoned off by the miscreants and were unable to explain how they punctured the pipeline which was being guarded round the clock by security men.

On December 21, 2010, a similar attempt was made by some miscreants who had punctured the pipeline on the Amin road and filled a tanker by siphoning oil. But the tanker had got stuck in the mud and the miscreants had fled, leaving the tanker on the roadside, IndianOil officials said.