Water mixed with diesel: Allegations against Sonai Road Filling Station; 'Planned attempt to defame,' says pump owner

The situation at the Triveni filling station adjacent to Saratpalli on Sonai Road got tense on Thursday afternoon. Raju Mitra, a local youth, recently bought a Piaggeo car and filled his full tank with diesel from the petrol pump. After filling fuel, his car abruptly stopped and he called a mechanic as he could not start the car. The mechanic decided to take out the diesel from the tank as he could not start the car despite many attempts. He suspected that there was a problem with the diesel. After taking out the diesel, they noticed there was something mixed in it. They immediately went to the filling station with the diesel however the pump owner refuted allegations of adulteration and showed them by testing it. When both sides became adamant in their words, the situation turned heated.

Complainant Raju Mitra said, “I am a resident of the area. We have seen in the past that the fuel sold at the filling station was adulterated and the common people had protested against it. However, we still trusted them and used to buy fuel. Now my own car has got damaged. It is natural for me to get angry, but when we spoke to the pump authorities about the matter they started blaming us instead. A woman from the owner’s side abused us and tried to make a story of her own by making a video. But we aren’t afraid and we will not hesitate to raise our voice against them if they try to fool the common man in this way. ”

They have lodged a complaint against the owner of the petrol pump at Rangirkhari police station and are thinking of spreading awareness in the area so that more people don’t face the same situation in future.

Meanwhile, Tuhina Dhar, the owner of the filling station said, “When the young man came with his friends, they made it clear that this was done previously as well. We suspect that they did it on purpose. We don’t know what they did with the fuel outside our pump. However, we still tested the jar in which he brought the diesel and found that it was thick as per the standards of Indian Oil Corporation. At first we tried to make them understand but they did not agree. Their intention was to shut down the petrol pump.”

She added, “We tried to convince them for about half an hour, but they stopped us from selling fuel. The customers who came at this time saw the ruckus and they might not come to our pump in the future as an ingrained impression of adulteration has been pressed in their minds. Maybe that was what those youths wanted. I am a woman and the young man verbally abused me with slangs and even physically harassed our staff. They didn’t want us to test their sample of diesel, but we still did and it is proof that we didn’t do any adulteration. We will now approach the administration hoping to get justice.”

Police officials visited the petrol pump once after the incident. Besides, the officials of Indian Oil Corporation have been informed. They said they will look into the matter and take necessary action once it is proven that there was water instead of diesel.