Pune: A Thane Police team today sealed a petrol pump located on Pune-Ahmednagar Road in the city after it found that the fuel dispensing machine was tampered with using a microchip, an official said.
The Thane crime branch has been conducting similar raids on such rigged petrol pumps across the state.
The IOC petrol pump was raided by the unit-I of the crime branch, said a senior police inspector who led the team.
“The action was taken on the basis of the information received during the interrogation of two persons arrested after the crime branch had busted a state-wide petrol theft racket that used electronic chips to siphon off petrol from pumps,” he said.
During the raid, the police found out the pulse board of the fuel dispenser was rigged using a micro chip so that lesser amount of fuel will be delivered to customers than what is displayed.
“We also noticed that the seal of the pulsar board was broken. We have sent the pulsar mother board to laboratory for further investigation,” said the officer.
Police have served a notice to the owner of the petrol pump.
“We will send a letter to the officials of the Indian Oil asking them to inspect the pump and submit a report on tampering,” he added.
Earlier this month, a senior official of the Thane crime branch had said around 68 petrol pumps had been raided across Maharashtra of which 40 were found to be rigged using a microchip.
–PTI