The accused and the seized property have been handed over to Vivekanand Chowk police station for further legal action
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Latur police’s local crime branch (LCB) has busted an inter-district racket involved in the theft and sale of oxygen cylinder tanks, solving 11 cases registered across Latur and Nanded districts. Police arrested Umakant Suresh Pangavkar (36) of Pimpri Amba in Latur on Thursday and seized 20 stolen oxygen cylinder tanks, Rs 1.77 lakh in cash allegedly earned from their sale and a Bolero pickup used in the crimes. The total value of the seized property is Rs 14.57 lakh. Pangavkar was detained on Nov 4 after LCB received a tip-off that a man was waiting near Tanaji Chowk in Kale Borgaon with stolen oxygen cylinder tanks loaded in a Bolero pickup and was looking to sell them. A case has been registered under Section 303(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
“Acting on the information, we intercepted the vehicle and recovered iron oxygen cylinder tanks during a search,” police said. Latur superintendent of police Amol Tambe said, “The action has helped us expose an inter-district chain involved in stealing oxygen cylinder tanks and selling them for monetary gains. The accused and the seized property have been handed over to Vivekanand Chowk police station for further legal action.
The subsequent search and interrogation led to the recovery of 20 cylinder tanks and Rs 1.77 lakh generated through the sale of 51 stolen tanks.
LCB inspector Sudhakar Bavkar said the team had been tracking those involved in oxygen cylinder thefts when it received specific intelligence about the suspect’s presence at Kale Borgaon. Further investigation is under way to ascertain whether more people were involved in the racket,” he said. “We immediately laid a trap and detained the suspect, along with the pickup.
Further investigation linked him to 11 theft cases registered at police stations in Latur district and one in neighbouring Nanded district . During questioning, Pangavkar allegedly confessed to stealing oxygen cylinder tanks from Ahmedpur, Budhoda, Jamb and other locations.