Nagpur: In a major operation exposing the rampant black marketing of subsidised domestic LPG cylinders, the Crime Branch busted an illegal refilling and hoarding racket in Khadka, under Hingna police station limits on the outskirts of the city, late on Sunday evening.Depriving bona fide domestic customers of their gas cylinder supply, the racketeers benefited commercial users by delivering illegally refilled cylinders.The raid resulted in the seizure of 179 gas cylinders—filled, partially filled, and empty—along with sophisticated refilling equipment and a vehicle used for transportation, with the total value of the contraband estimated at around ₹12 lakh. CP Ravinder Singal ordered a detailed probe to unearth the nexus between the gas agency owner and the delivery manpower.Acting on a tip-off received by the unit, a Crime Branch team led by Senior Inspector Dnyaneshwar Bhedodkar conducted a surprise raid at a godown located on the farmland of one of the accused, Habib Gulam Sheikh, in Khadka village at around 5.10 PM on Monday.During the raid, the police caught the accused red-handed transferring gas from subsidised domestic household cylinders into commercial cylinders using unsafe machinery, including refilling motors, vacuum pumps, transfer pipes, and weighing scales.“This dangerous practice not only violates safety norms but also poses a grave risk of explosion and fire due to improper handling of highly flammable LPG,” said Crime Branch Senior PI Bhedodkar, who conducted the raid under DCP (Crime) Rahul Maknikar, ACP Abhijit Patil, and Addl CP Vasant Pardeshi.The arrested accused include Sunilkumar Jani (42), Prakash Khilleri (23), and Shravan Kumar Rajuram Jani—all hailing from Palli village in Jodhpur district, Rajasthan, and currently residing at the site in Hingna—along with local resident Habib Gulam Sheikh of Khadka village and the owner of Bhavani Gas Agency. Police stated Sheikh sheltered the racketeers at his farm.Police said the key accused, Sunilkumar, Prakash, and Rajuram, worked as delivery boys for different gas agencies. In collusion with the agency owners, the delivery boys started the black marketing racket around 1 year ago. They sold the refilled cylinders at cheaper rates, lower by ₹500–₹1,000, to commercial business owners, making the illegal trade lucrative for both the suppliers and the receivers.The seized items included 56 filled domestic HP cylinders valued at ₹1.68 lakh, 69 empty domestic cylinders worth ₹1.38 lakh, 6 filled and 10 partially filled commercial HP cylinders, 10 filled and 5 partially filled commercial Indian Oil cylinders, 22 filled and 1 partially filled commercial Bharat Gas cylinders, 80 transfer pipes, 3 vacuum pumps, 7 regulators, 2 refilling motors, 2 weighing scales, miscellaneous accessories, ₹12,700 in cash earned from illegal sales, 6 mobile phones valued at ₹1,21,000, and a Bolero pick-up vehicle (RJ 18 GC 7609) worth ₹4.50 lakh used for transporting the cylinders.Sources said the racketeers exploited the persistent shortage of domestic LPG cylinders in Nagpur, where households faced refill delivery delays of 10 to 15 days or more in recent months.By diverting subsidised domestic gas into commercial cylinders, the accused supplied it at cheaper rates to roadside dhabas, restaurants, Saoji food joints, resorts, and farmhouses on the city’s outskirts. The illegal diversion not only deprived ordinary families of a timely cooking gas supply but also artificially inflated scarcity and black-market prices.A case was registered at Hingna police station under Section 287 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substances), along with Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act.All the arrested persons and the seized material were handed over to Hingna police station for further investigation and legal action.
