Rajasthan Police bust inter-state gang in misappropriation of desi ghee case

Jaipur, May 20 (IANS) In a major breakthrough, Mahwa Police in Dausa district of Rajasthan have solved a case of misappropriation of 22 tonnes of Desi Ghee worth Rs 1.20 crore within just five days.

The ghee was originally dispatched from Dauji Milk Factory in Mahwa for delivery to Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, but was diverted and hidden with the intention of illegal resale.

As per SP Sagar Rana, the case came to light when Ashok Kumar Jatav, manager at Milk Food Pvt. Ltd. in Tikri Jafran village, reported that their contracted driver, Sanjay Malviya, had left on 11 May with a tanker carrying 21.85 tons of Desi Ghee. When the tanker did not reach the destination on time, the driver falsely claimed that the tanker had met with an accident and that all the ghee had spilled on the highway.

Despite this serious claim, no accident report was filed, and the driver, along with transporter worker Rohit and transport company owner Yogendra Dev Pandey, failed to inform either the police or the company.

Sensing foul play, Mahwa Police registered a case and launched an investigation. Given the gravity and scale of the fraud, a special investigation team was formed under Circle Officer Deepak Meena and SHO Rajendra Kumar Meena, on the instructions of Jaipur Range IG Ajay Pal Lamba, SP Sagar Rana, and Addl. SP Gurusharan Rao.

The team used route charts, surveillance footage from over 800 km of roads across Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and technical support from the Cyber Cell to track the movements of the suspects.

Constable Bhagirath played a key role by collecting intelligence and BTS data, and analysing CDRs, CAF IDs, and suspicious mobile numbers—over 100 in total.

Following meticulous tracking, the team arrested four members of an inter-state criminal gang, including Sanjay Malviya (40), son of Gheesa, native of Agar, Madhya Pradesh, currently residing in Etawah, Yogendra Dev Pandey (55), son of Omsharan Pandey, resident of Madhavnagar, Ujjain, MP, Rohit Prajapat (24), son of Kailash, resident of Shadalpur, Dhar, MP and Pawan Baghel (27), son of Ramprakash, resident of Bamor, Morena, MP.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the stolen ghee had been hidden in the Om Shankar Milk Factory in Dholpur. Police seized 18 tons of Desi Ghee and a 12-wheel tanker, together valued at Rs 1 crore.

The accused were attempting to sell the ghee when the police intervened. The police are continuing their investigation to recover the remaining 3.85 tonnes of Desi Ghee. All accused are being interrogated for further leads and connections.

--IANS

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