Kerosene of one truck vanishes into thin air right under the nose of armed personnel on round the clock surveillance
DIMAPUR, AUGUST 30: In a surprising move for most of the public and the volunteers of the anti-corruption group ACAUT, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Dimapur in an order dated August 10 2016 directed the release of the eight seized oil tanker trucks on Zimma belonging to Dinanath Shah, an accused kingpin of the fuel adulteration whose unit at Chumukedima was busted by Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) along with the district administration in June this year.
This order of the Court infuriated the Chumukedima Town Youth Organisation (CTYO), Chumukedima Students Union and Chumukedima ‘A’ Village Council who resorted to deflating the eight trucks which was already out to be released creating commotion at the petrol pump on Tuesday.
However, in a seizure list of June 27 and the CJM Court order made available to media persons, there were anomalies. In the seizure list, out of eleven tanker trucks only seven of the tankers were mentioned empty but the court order directed for the release of eight tankers mentioned ‘found empty’ including a truck bearing registration number NL08A-3451 that was earlier found filled and seized as per the seizure list signed by the concerned investigating officer.
The court order stated: ”In view of the above proposition of law, the instant application is allowed and the seized eight oil tanker trucks described above are hereby released into the custody of the petitioner Dinanath on executing a Zimma bond for an amount of Rs. 2,00,000/- for each of the tankers with one surety each the like amount to the satisfaction of the I.O subject to the following conditions: The petitioner owner should not create any third party interest with regard to the vehicle by way of sale, mortgage, gift or otherwise until the disposal of the instant case. The petitioner owner should not make any alteration and/or modification upon the seized vehicle. The petitioner owner is to produce the seized vehicle as and when required or called for by the court or by the I.O. Needless to say, the I.O is to release the seized vehicle on strict verification of the documents produced by the petitioner”.
It was also alleged by the members CTYO that that out of the four trucks which were found filled, one truck filled with kerosene was already empty. The ACAUT members also questioned how it can just vanish into the thin air when the petrol pump was under the watchful eye of armed guards present day and night.
The ACAUT members present stated that unlike the sampling of fuel at Ghorapatti, the Chumukedima mixing unit was sampled without the witness of the village council or NGO’s which leaves room for doubt.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the case interestingly remarked that they were not given any notice about the court order for release of the eight vehicles but was informed only at the eleventh hour. The police personnel who were escorting the release of the eight tankers faced objection from the Chumukedima Council and Youths who resorted to deflating the eight tankers. The ACAUT questioned ‘when the order was already passed on August 10, why did it take almost 20 days for the team to receive the order’.
After the anomaly in the seizure list and Court order passed by the CJM, the ACAUT along with the Chumukedima public resolved that the tankers shall not be moved out of the petrol pump until the court comes up with a fitting reply.
