The owner of a petrol pump and his accomplice were arrested by the Naswadi police station in Chhota Udepur district on Friday after the driver of a fuel tanker filed a complaint of alleged abduction and extortion against them. The petrol pump owner, in turn, lodged a complaint of cheating and theft of Rs 6.51 lakh against the driver at the police station.
After the cross-complaints were filed on July 11, the Naswadi police arrested petrol pump owner Harish kumar Kandani and his accomplice Dhiraj, in the complaint filed by the driver, Dhaval Tarbada (28). Tarbada’s complaint also named two other accused, Suresh and Popat, who are yet to be arrested.
In his complaint, Tarbada said that Kandani and the three accused allegedly illegally confined him to a room at the petrol pump from July 8 to 10 and he was allegedly stripped off his clothes and assaulted with sticks.
The FIR quoted Tarbada as saying, “Three of the accused also urinated in my mouth and continued to demand Rs 15 lakh, making allegations of fuel theft against me, though I repeatedly told them that I had not committed any theft… The petrol pump owner also called my uncle from my mobile phone and asked my family to bring along jewellery or transfer a family land into his name in order to ‘pay’ for the theft…”
“They also made indecent comments about my mother and wife and threatened that they would continue to assault me until my family arrived…,” he added.
Tarbada alleged that after leaving him locked in the room for two days without food, water and clothes, Kandani returned on July 10 and handed over clothes to Tarbada. “Therafter, he took my in his car and left me at a junction in Naswadi,” the FIR stated.
Kandani and the three others have been booked under sections 140 (2) (abduction), 308 (2) (extortion), 127 (7) wrongful confinement, 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 54 (abettor present when offence is committed) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
In his complaint, Kandani alleged that Tarbada committed “breach of trust” and theft of Rs 6.15 lakh by pilfering fuel from the tankers during the transit from Vadodara to Chhota Udepur.
According to the FIR, Kandani and two co-owners of the petrol pump had been “disturbed” about the “depletion in the stock of fuel” at the pump for over six months. Kandani alleged that while the manager of the petrol pump, Jaydeep Solanki, believed that the summer heat could be a reason for the fuel loss, Kandani expressed suspicion that theft has taken place from the tanker transporting the fuel from Manjusar GIDC in Vadodara to the petrol pump. It was then that Solanki followed the tanker from Dabhoi to Chhota Udepur on June 26 and allegedly caught Tarbada “red-handed” while pilfering the fuel.
Kandani in his complaint stated that when Solanki warned Tarbada to stop pilfering the fuel, Tarbada allegedly threatened him with dire consequences. “He responded (to Solanki) saying that ‘you can do me no harm and if you complain to the owner, I will run over you and kill you’.”
Kandani alleged that following the confrontation, Tarbada had “gone on leave” and only returned to duty on July 8, when he was questioned by the co-owners of the petrol pump. He then allegedly “admitted to the theft” and “agreed to compensate” the pump owners with Rs 6.51 lakh to “settle the matter”.
In his complaint, Kandani said, “Since we had agreed on the settlement, we did not approach the police. But till date (July 11), Tarbada has not paid the compensation and so I seek action against him for theft.”
Tarbada has been booked under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of BNS.
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