​Cops bust spurious furnace oil racket, hunt for mastermind

CHENNAI: Civil supplies CID sleuths busted an oil smuggling racket by arresting two people and seizing a truck with 10,000 litres of spurious furnace oil from a workshop in Red Hills on Wednesday.
Police said the accused had been running the racket under the guise of Devi Karumariamman Auto Works on M R Chidambaram Street in Red Hills. Police have launched a hunt for the owner, Mani, and the truck driver Sampath, who fled when police raided the workshop at 5am on Wednesday.
Following a tip-off, police teams led by a civil supplies CID wing inspector barged into the workshop and arrested two workers – G Arumugam, 35, and P Perumal, 48, natives of Cheyyar in Thiruvannamalai district – who were loading the spurious furnace oil in the truck. “As the driver and the owner of the work shop were missing, we are not sure where the consignment was going? We have questioned the arrested employees but they knew little about the racket,” a police officer said.
The workers told police that they were mixing tar with the furnace oil, as instructed by Mani. Police said they had been running the racket for at least a year.
Police have slapped various charges including that of adulteration. The arrested duo was remanded in judicial custody after being produced before a magistrate in the city on Wednesday.