Aurangabad, Aug 24:
A crime branch team conducted a raid on an illegal gas refilling centre at Ranjangaon Shenpunji in Waluj Mahanagar area on Wednesday. The police have seized articles and an auto-rickshaw amounting to Rs 2.25 lakh.
Crime branch PSI Gajanan Sontakke and his team were patrolling in Waluj MIDC area on Wednesday. They received information that an illegal gas refilling centre is being operated at Dattanagar Phata in Ranjangaon.
Sontakke informed the Gangapur Nayab tehsildar Ramdas Bothe about it. Then Talathi Rahul Vanjari, PSI Sontakke, Parbat Mhaske, Sandeep Beedkar, Vijay Bhanuse, PSI Rajendra Bangar and others raided the centre at around 2 pm. They found that gas was being refilled from a domestic gas cylinder in an auto-rickshaw (MH20 EF 1079). The police arrested the centre operator Syed Azhar Syed Rafiq (36, Ranjangaon). The rickshaw driver managed to escape. They also seized the articles used for refilling and the auto-rickshaw, all amounting to Rs 2.25 lakh.
A case has been registered with Waluj MIDC police station based on the complainant lodged by constable Avinash Dhage. Second PI Shamkant Patil is further investigating the case.