HYDERABAD: Diesel pilferage mastermind Chand Shaik, who punctured a fuel pipeline, fixed a valve to it and pumped out 1.3 lakh litres of diesel, is on the run with part of the riches made from the sale of the stolen fuel.A manhunt has been launched to nab Shaik.After arresting four of the 12 offenders involved in the diesel pilferage racket, Rachakonda police interrogated prime accused Hafeez about Shaik.Once the gang members decided to pilfer fuel in Hyderabad with the expertise of Shaik, they carried out a recce of the areas through which the 17-kilometre pipeline from HPCL Terminal in Ghatkesar to IOCL and BPCL Terminals in Cherlapally passes through.On the instructions of Shaik, the gang members took a plot abutting the pipeline at Rampally on lease in the name of Hafeez. One of the arrested accused, B Srinivasulu, had invested about Rs 15 lakh to lease the plot and construct a metal sheet fence around it with a small shed inside. The money was also used for digging a tunnel.Once the site was ready for a purported scrap godown and tunnel work was finished, Shaik took measurements of the pipeline. “He used his contacts and got the metal clamp along with a valve prepared in the Old City. Shaik also used a hand drill to make a hole in the pipeline and meticulously attached the clamp-valve to it,” an investigator said.As per the agreement of the gang, majority of the earnings from the diesel theft would go to Srinivasulu and Hafeez. The rest were to get a smaller share. However, Shaik took about Rs 15 lakh he got from diesel sale and became incommunicado with other gang members. The gang members claimed Chand Shaik was an expert in pilferage and he used to observe when the fuel transfer was happening by pressing his ear to the pipeline and carry out drilling work only when the supply was off.

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