BENGALURU: An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) attached to Ashoknagar police station, Central Division, was successful in unearthing a fake engine oil racket by arresting two fraudsters, including a tailor, who was the mastermind. Fake engine oil worth around Rs 10 lakh was recovered from the main accused Swamy, alias Oil Swamy, from Channapatna, and M R Nagaraj from Hassan district.
The officer was tipped off about fake engine oil by a mechanic, and used local intelligence to find the mastermind. He then hatched a plot in the guise of a prospective buyer, and nabbed the main accused. After the arrest, a godown at Yalachipalya in Channapatna, where the fake oil was being manufactured, was sealed.
The officer even camped in Delhi for over a week to gather information about the suppliers of raw materials to the accused. The engine oil was being sold using stickers of reputed engine oil companies. The accused, who sold fake engine oil not only in the city, but almost in every district across Karnataka, were pocketing Rs 100-Rs 150 per litre of oil.
Hari Chandra, the ASI attached to Ashoknagar police station for the past nine months, got a tip-off from a vehicle mechanic in Austin Town. The accused Swamy is from Yalachipalya and his associate Nagaraj of Mavanuru village in Hassan. The police first arrested Nagaraj, as he was distributing the fake oil. Oil Swamy was arrested from his factory.
Swamy, a tailor, came in contact with a person from Delhi who was working in an engine oil manufacturing company. He got inputs about the production of engine oil from the latter, and began purchasing raw materials to manufacture it. He then approached small-time engine oil sellers across the state and lured them with high commissions.
“If it was any other cop, the information would have been easily brushed aside. But the ASI took the tip-off seriously and worked hard till the case reached its logical end.,” said an officer attached to Ashoknagar police station.