Where's all the petrol gone? Beware of fuel thieves

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: If you suspect someone is stealing petrol from your vehicle, you are not alone. Recently several citizens have raised doubts that miscreants are stealing fuel from their vehicles during the night and have approached the city police.

This is obviously happening because a number of people in Bengaluru park their vehicles outside their houses during the night, owing to lack of parking space, making them vulnerable to thieves.

Recently, when residents of Jnanabharati noticed that the fuel tanks of their vehicles have been mysteriously getting depleted unusually sooner, they informed the jurisdictional police about it. 

However, speaking to News Trail, the residents alleged that the police did not take the matter seriously and instead advised them to keep their vehicles safe. The worried people then decided to guard their vehicles themselves and also kept an eye on the CCTV footage for a few days.

"This has been going on for almost two months. When I initially found shortage of petrol in my scooter despite filling it to the brim the previous day, I got suspicious and discussed it with my neighbour," Umesh Kumar, one of the victims, told News Trail on Sunday.

"I was shocked to hear a similar story from him," he added. Kumar resides near Deepa hospital on Ullal Main Road and usually leaves his scooter parked outside his house where around 50 other vehicles are parked along the street during the night.

One of the residents who had a CCTV camera installed outside his house, while checking footage recently observed two bike-borne miscreants attempting to steal fuel from a parked bike on the street. Kumar, with the help of a few neighbours procured the footage and based on it, filed a complaint with Jnanabharathi police.

Speaking about the incident, the police asserted that there is no organised network behind petrol theft. "It is mostly the handiwork of youngsters. However, keeping in view the soaring petrol rates, we will take all measures so that such cases are not reported in future," a policeman said. Kumar said that the miscreants seem to be local youth.

"Many youngsters who have bikes but not enough pocket money for petrol, take to stealing it at night. Hope the police take necessary action to put an end to the trouble," he said. Earlier too, such complaints had been reported from central parts of the city, especially Ashoknagar and Viveknagar after which the police had assured an increase in night patrolling.

"There have been a few such incidents. People who siphon the fuel off vehicles are sometimes those who race on bikes. They do it when the vehicle is parked and no one is around," said a police officer. Meanwhile the police said that efforts are on to identify and nab the miscreants involved in petrol thefts.