Coal adulteration racket busted in Rajasthan, one arrested

Jaipur, July 19 (IANS) In a significant breakthrough, Rajasthan Police’s CID Crime Branch has busted a major coal adulteration racket in Sirohi, exposing a scam worth crores of rupees.

The gang was found mixing fake coal dust into high-quality petcoke imported from the US, causing massive financial losses to the cement and steel industries.

Additional Director General of Police (Crime) Dinesh M.N. revealed that the racket involved a well-organised network operating from a rented, defunct factory behind Tulsi Hotel on the Pindwara-Abu Road National Highway 27.

Coal mafias, primarily from Gujarat, lured truck drivers carrying imported coal with hefty bribes of Rs 5,000–Rs 7,000 per ton. They would then offload 5-10 tons of premium petcoke from each truck and replace it with low-grade coal dust. This adulterated coal was supplied to smaller industrial units, yielding illegal profits of Rs 1-Rs 1.5 lakh daily for the gang.

The stolen premium coal was sold separately, making the operation immensely lucrative. Acting on credible inputs from Head Constable Ramesh Kumar, a joint team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Phoolchand Taylor and Inspector Ram Singh, under the supervision of DIG Crime Yogesh Yadav and Additional SP Narottam Verma, conducted a raid on Friday at the identified location in Bhujela.

The police seized two trucks, a loader, a dozer, and specialised tools used to tamper with truck seals. One accused, Irfan (32), son of Haroon, a resident of Madina Society, Lajpat Nagar, Radhanpur, Gujarat, was arrested on the spot.

During interrogation, Irfan confessed that they purchased coal from truck drivers and replaced it with fake material, managing to siphon off 15–20 tons daily.

The operation brought the gang a daily income of over Rs 1 lakh. The successful operation was made possible due to the coordinated efforts of DySP Phoolchand Taylor. The tip-off provided by Head Constable Ramesh Kumar proved to be critical in exposing the entire operation, said officials.

--IANS

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