Hyderabad police felicitate father-son duo for exposing gas cylinder scam

A Hyderabad father and son were felicitated by police for exposing an LPG cylinder theft racket after noticing a weight discrepancy. Their complaint led to arrests and seizure of illegally refilled cylinders, highlighting the importance of consumer vigilance.

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Police Commissioner, VC Sajjanar, on Saturday felicitated a father and son duo for their alertness and bravery in exposing a gas cylinder theft racket that was exploiting common citizens.

The fraud was unearthed last week in April, when Ashok Tiwari, a businessman from Chudi Bazaar, booked a gas cylinder. On delivery of the LPG cylinder, Tiwari’s son, 16-year-old Naman Tiwari, noticed that the cylinder felt lighter than usual.

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Upon inspection, they found that the cylinder, which should weigh 30.4 kg, weighed only 28 kg. Suspecting foul play due to the rapid exhaustion of their household gas recently, they questioned the representatives of the delivery agency. When the agency staff responded rudely, the father and son decided to investigate further.

“They discovered that the agency employees were illegally refilling gas from domestic cylinders into smaller cylinders and commercial units at a residence in Jumerat Bazar. Realising the danger this posed to public safety in a crowded residential area, they filed a complaint at the Goshamahal Police Station,” said DCP Mehdipatnam, G Chandra Mohan.

The police registered a case against the management of Siddhartha Enterprises and five other individuals for endangering public lives and illegal refilling. The arrested individuals have been identified as Sai Kumar, Vineeth Kumar, Pusa Ganesh, Praveen Kumar, Amit Kumar and the police seized two commercial cylinders, seven domestic cylinders, 12 small cylinders, and various refilling equipment from their possession.

“They acted as ‘policemen without uniforms’ by questioning the irregularities in the system. They are role models for everyone,” said Sajjanar and urged consumers to be proactive, check the quality and quantity of goods they receive, and transform from passive consumers to active guardians.