Thane police take custody of two petrol pump scam accused

Mumbai: The Thane police has taken custody of Vivek Shetey (43), and Avinash Naik (37), over suspicions that they have manufactured and supplied ‘cheat’ chips to fuel stations in the state to dispense less fuel than what was charged for.

Shetey, who has an MSc in electronics, was earlier arrested from Dombivali by the UP police for having manufactured such chips at his workshop. The chips were then allegedly sold at the rate of Rs 50,000 to the accused in UP. Naik owns a chip-manufacturing unit in Pune. The police has a set of names under its scanner for their suspected role in making cheat chips and the interrogation of Shetey and Naik may give clues on the former’s whereabouts, said a police source. Till now, 80 petrol pumps have been sealed from all over Maharashtra.

Last month, Thane police had made a list of 100 petrol pumps, those which were suspected of using electronic chips to manipulate their discharge of fuel in a manner that less fuel is given for what is shown on the receipt. Thane police PRO, S Narkar said, “ We have sealed 80 petrol pumps till Monday from all over Maharashtra and arrested 19 accused in the case. We have taken custody of the two chip makers who were earlier arrested by the joint operation of UP police and Thane police.”

Investigation officer said, “ We have taken custody of  Shetey and Naik, because we have got some links which indicates that they have the main role in this scam in Maharashtra too. Also there are some other chipmakers who might be in contact with these accused. We need to find them and after taking them into custody, get more clues about the others accused. Soon we will arrest rest of the accused in the case.”

According to Thane police, Vivek Shetey was arrested for selling cheat chips to UP-based suspect, Ajay Chaurasia. Shetey has supplied more than 300 chips to men in UP. He used to manufacture the chips at his home.