Jhansi: Police recovered 524 stolen LPG cylinders and arrested 7 accused in Jhansi on Wednesday morning. The cylinders, worth over Rs 17 lakh, were stolen on Friday. Police also recovered a large sum of cash from the accused.SSP Jhansi BBGTS Murthy, speaking at a press conference, said that the police apprehended Jawed, 26, Amir, 35, Hrithik, 24, and Sumit, 22, during a police patrol at around 2.30 am after a brief encounter near a gas godown on Gwalior Road. A handgun and some cartridges were also recovered. Amir was from Samthar, while the rest of the accused were from Premnagar.During interrogation, the police said Hritik and Jawed had hatched a plan to steal a truckload of cylinders to pay an old debt of the truck owner. They solicited a deal with Amir, who worked at Shiv Gas Agency in Samthar, to sell the cylinders for Rs 13 lakh.Later in the morning, at around 5.30 am, police arrested Shubhankar Parihar, 28, the owner of Shiv Gas Agency, along with Abhishek, 25, and Surendra, 23, from Samthar, and recovered all 524 cylinders, of which 135 were empty and were already sold. Police also recovered Rs 83,820 from the accused, which they had got after selling the cylinders. Separately, Rs 11.10 lakh was recovered from Jawed’s house, which the police said he had got after delivering the cylinders.Jawed and Hritik, former drivers for truck fleet owner Neeraj Agarwal, drove the truck loaded with 524 filled LPG cylinders on Friday morning, while Amir and Sumit escorted them on a motorbike, the police said. The truck was parked in front of the BPCL refilling unit in Karari. The incident became the talk of the town after the truck vanished from the parking lot of the BPCL refilling unit, which was considered a secure place. The police also noted that the theft had occurred at a time when LPG was in short supply due to the ongoing Middle-East war.Police said the accused went straight to Samthar and unloaded the cylinders at Shiv Gas Agency. On their return, they abandoned the empty truck near Paricha. They also damaged the GPS device to mislead the police.SSP Murthy said several police teams, along with continuous monitoring of hundreds of CCTV cameras at various points, helped them catch the accused. He said he declared a reward of Rs 25,000 for the police team involved in cracking the case, and that all the accused were being sent to jail.
