7 Arrested for stealing gas subsidy of 3,000 Assam users

Seven persons have been booked in the city for allegedly changing the bank account numbers of 3,024 consumers of a cooking gas agency in Assam in 2018 and diverting their government subsidies.

The FIR was lodged on Wednesday after officials from the Noida office of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) filed a petition in a Ghaziabad court, which ordered police to investigate the allegations.

According to the petition, IOC had given distribution rights to Hirimba Gas Agency in Kharupetia of Darrang district in Assam. The accused, police said, managed to extract details of the gas agency’s consumers and the bank accounts where the government subsidy was transferred.

Using forged documents, the gang changed the bank account details of 3,024 consumers between October 15 and November 11, 2018, and pocketed lakhs of rupees.