DIGBOI : Atleast four AOD contractual employees were arrested by Digboi police for theft from Digboi AOD refinery here recently following the recovery of nearly a quintal of ductile metal with high conductivity - copper and aluminium. The arrested accused who were identified as Debasish Dutta, Ratan Sur, Bhaskar Chetry and Gaya Prasad Jaiswal were engaged under different firms tasked in different departments of the refinery. According to security sources, the act of pilferage was detected during the security check by on-duty CISF personnel which subsequently led to recovery of the stolen properties of the refinery that belonged to electrical department.
Official sources at the refinery suspected that the accused must have been planning in cordination to execute their perverted design for long. “The act of stealing, cutting and pilling of metals with high thermal conductivity inside the refinery must have involved a systematic preparation of the tasked workers which however could not dupe the security agency,” shared the official on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, one of the CISF personnel told that the pilfered materials were being transported in a garbage truck that ply in routine time to dispose off the garbage from the refinery. Although, the accused were executed under the relevant sections of the law yet the AOD authority is reportedly yet to fix the accountability upon the respective contractors and firm owners.
Similarly, the role of the Digboi police here should have been pro active to crack the nexus between the accused and the buyers group if any in the form of scrap vendors and their godowns spread in nooks and crannies of the historic oil town. Raiding one such premises years back in Digboi the then OC Md.A Hanan had registered a case under PDPP Act against one of the scrap vendors.
The unregulated mushrooming scrap shops and godowns along the NH 38 from Powai area to Bogapani in Digboi is operating unabated despite incidences of growing thefts from tea factory, refinery and other AOD premises, Oil India, forest departments, schools and temples and Namghars have become a serious concern.
However, based on the FIR lodged by Digboi CISF, all four accused were booked u/s 379 and 409 IPC after registering the case 17/2024 against the perpetrators.
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