Daijiworld Media Network – Padubidri (MS)

Padubidri, Jun 23: Three loading workers of Rajasthani origin were caught red-handed while transferring cooking gas from domestic cylinders to commercial cylinders by Kaup food inspector M.T. Leelananda and Padubidri station officer Prasanna early on the morning of June 22 near the Samanyu HP Gas Agency godown in Mudarangadi. The three loading workers are employees of Samanyu HP Gas Agency.

A case has been registered against gas agency owner Vidya S. Hegde and loaders Surendra Kumar, Sukhdev, and Devaram. Surendra Kumar and Sukhdev have been arrested, while Devaram managed to escape from the spot. Police confiscated 11 domestic and four commercial gas cylinders from the scene.

The raid was carried out based on a tip-off. At 6 am on Saturday, Kaup food inspector M.T. Leelananda and the police organized the raid.

The accused used to load the cylinders onto their vehicles the previous evening for distribution the next day. At night, they would remove two to three kilograms of gas from each domestic cylinder and fill the commercial use cylinders with it, then sell them. Police said that the weight of a sealed domestic gas cylinder should be 30 kilograms, but the cylinders found on the spot weighed only 27 kilograms. Police sources said the accused have worked at the agency for the past two years and have been carrying out this illegal activity for the last one and a half years.