Six MSRTC employees booked for theft of diesel

Nagpur, Feb 21 (UNI) Six employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) here have been booked for stealing 4,284 litres of diesel worth Rs 1.61 lakh by making short deliveries of fuel to the corporation's buses.

According to police, the six employees, while working in the depot of MSRTC's city bus service here, tampered with the fuel pump to ensure that it delivered 25 millilitre less diesel for every 5 litres when the vehicles were refuelled.

The theft was exposed when MSRTC officials carried out a routine check of the fuel dispensing machine and found that it was delivering short. The theft took place during September 2006, but the offence was registered yesterday after a complaint was received from MSRTC Divisional Security and Vigilance Officer Krishnakant Kumbhare.

The six employees have been identified as Narendra Janrao Hawankar, who was depot manager at the time and is now in Akola, V N Deshmukh, Assistant Workshop Superintendent, A A Mathankar, O S Tiwari, both fuel clerks, Pradeep Akhare, chargeman and T Prakash Narnaware, Depot Manager, Oil Depot. The police have registered an offence under sections 379 and 34 of IPC.

UNI