Nagpur: Woman arrested after 14 years in kerosene black market racket

A woman involved in a kerosene black market racket has been arrested after 14 years. A case was registered against her in 2009, and since then she has been taking advantage of having two names to evade the police. The team from Imamwada police station has successfully taken her into custody.

On September 11, 2009, Sanghpal Dadaji Meshram (19) and Pradeep Wamanrao Raut (23) from Vakilpeth were arrested for their involvement in black marketing 70 litres of kerosene at Chandannagar, under the jurisdiction of Imamwada police station. A case was registered against them under the Essential Commodities Act. During the investigation, it was discovered that they had purchased the kerosene from Laxmibai, also known as Latabai Sunil Shingade (45), who operated her own kerosene distribution centre in Chandannagar. The police had also filed a case against her. However, she took advantage of having two names and managed to evade arrest. The case has remained unresolved ever since.

The police commissioner issued a directive to initiate a drive in order to locate the absconding accused. Following this, the case file was reopened, leading to the successful tracing and subsequent arrest of the accused, Laxmibai. The police managed to track her down with the assistance of a network of informers.