Oil mafia tries to set ablaze official in Uttar Pradesh

Officer was trying to raid a ration shop to check kerosene hoarding

In an incident reminiscent of the killing of IIM-L alumni and Indian Oil officer S Manjunath, oil mafia once again tried to set ablaze a supply officer in UP’s Budaon district. The officer was trying to raid a ration shop to check alleged kerosene hoarding.

According to police sources, district supply officer (DSO) Neeraj Singh managed to escape as the attackers, allegedly members of the oil mafia, failed in their attempt to torch the vehicle in which the officer was seated after dousing it with kerosene.

The officer managed to reach the police station and reported the incident. Two people, including the main accused were arrested on Friday while eight others have been detained for questioning. A case has been registered against 150 unidentified people.

Police were in the process of identifying the attackers.

The incident occurred on Thursday evening when Singh along with some officials rushed to Dahegawan village in the district after receiving a complaint about kerosene hoarding. On reaching, he raided the ration shop owned by Girish Chandra, husband of the block president and sealed it.

An infuriated Chandra accompanied by over a hundred people attacked the officer and his team after they took their seats in the vehicle and were about to proceed.

The attackers broke the window panes of the car and doused the vehicle with kerosene and tried to set it ablaze. “They tried twice but failed,” a terrified Singh said later. Security personnel from different police stations and senior officials rushed to the spot a little later.

State police chief A C Sharma said that two people, including Girish Chandra, have been arrested in this connection. “We are contemplating to slap National Security Act (NSA) on the accused,” he said. Seven years ago, Indian Oil officer S Manjunath was brutally killed by the oil mafia after he sealed a petrol pump in Lakhimpur Kheri district for selling adulterated petrol.

A lower court sentenced the pump owner and another accused to death. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad High Court .