Pune Police Busts Illegal Gas Transfer Racket in Handewadi; One Arrested with 103 Cylinders
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Hadapsar, 15th April 2026: In a major crackdown on the black marketing of domestic LPG, the Kale Padal Police raided an illegal gas transfer operation, arresting one individual. The police seized a total of 103 gas cylinders and a transport vehicle, with the confiscated assets valued at Rs. 10,09,300.
Acting on directives from senior officials to clamp down on illegal businesses and history-sheeters, a detection branch team was actively patrolling the police station’s limits. During the patrol, Police Constable Mahadev Shinde received a tip-off from a confidential informant that a man in the Handewadi area was illegally transferring gas from domestic cylinders into commercial ones.
Upon verifying the information, the police team raided a location adjacent to a shop named ‘Kavya Multi Services’. Outside, they discovered a Maruti Suzuki Super Carry tempo loaded with domestic and commercial gas cylinders. Upon inspecting the interior of the shop, officers caught a suspect red-handed while he was illegally transferring LPG from domestic cylinders into commercial ones, as well as into smaller 5-kg cylinders—a highly hazardous act posing a severe threat to human life.
The accused was taken into custody and identified as Nitin Hanumant Holkar (38), a resident of Handewadi, Pune. When questioned about possessing an official license to stockpile the gas cylinders, Holkar admitted that he did not hold any legal permits.
The police confiscated the 103 gas cylinders and the four-wheeler, collectively worth Rs. 10,09,300. An FIR (No. 164/2026) has been registered against Holkar at the Kale Padal Police Station under Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act.
The successful operation was conducted under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 6) Rajkumar Shinde and Assistant Commissioner of Police (Hadapsar Division) Atulkumar Navgire.
The team included Senior Police Inspector Mansing Patil, Assistant Police Inspector Amit Shete, along with Police Personnel Pravin Kalbhor, Dawood Sayyad, Pratik Lahigude, Amol Phadtare, Vishal Thombre, Shahid Shaikh, Laxman Kale, Atul Pandharkar, Saddam Tamboli, Pradip Bediskar, Mahadev Shinde, and Giriraj Jagdale.
