Pottangi: Unidentified miscreants stole 300 litres of diesel from a truck parked by the side of National Highway-26, in front of the State Bank of India branch in this block of Koraput district late Thursday night.
According to sources, the truck (CG 04/MB-6466) was carrying rice heading from Raipur in Chhattisgarh to Vishakhapatnam and was passing through this block. However, it had to stop when the truck was hit by a mechanical snag.
The driver of vehicle Asit Kumar Panda managed to park it in front of the SBI office. He decided to fix the defect Friday morning. Then he and his helper went off to sleep in the cabin of the truck.
However, when Panda and his helper woke up Friday they found that the pipe attached to the fuel tank and some nuts and bolts were lying in the open. They discovered that the entire fuel tank had been emptied.
Panda lodged a police complaint at the police station here alleging fuel worth Rs 21, 600 has been stolen from his truck.
Even if such cases have been occurring at regular intervals, police are yet to clamp down on anti-socials, the local residents alleged. They further pointed out that proper police patrolling is not carried out during the night. Hence the miscreants have a field day. They target both local and outstation vehicles and regularly decamp with the fuel and other parts. They urged the police administration to intensify night patrolling to put a check on the menace.
PNN