Srinagar, May 14: Petrol and diesel outlets across the Kashmir valley have come under the scanner of the Central Bureau of Investigation in the wake of ‘adulteration’ complaints.
 Informed sources told Greater Kashmir that the CBI sleuths on Friday raided a dozen petrol and diesel outlets in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts following complaints that the filling stations were selling adulterated petrol and diesel by mixing kerosene with it.
 The filling stations, they said, belong to three corporations including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. “The sleuths comprising CBI inspectors collected samples of petrol and diesel from the outlets for further investigation,” the sources said.
 The sleuths, they said, also included some experts from an oil company who collected the samples “in a professional manner.” “They (sleuths) had a mobile van with them which was used for sample collection,” the sources said.
 The samples shall be examined properly through conduction of various tests which can determine whether there has been any adulteration or not. “If any adulteration is found, the outlets will be seized immediately,” the sources said.
 They said the surprise raid began on Friday morning. The CBI team raided some petrol and diesel outlets in Bemina on the city outskirts following which they visited Kangan and Ganderbal areas, where they collected samples from about eight filling stations.
 “We are conducting the raid following the reports that the filling station owners resorted to adulteration of petrol and diesel,” said a CBI official, wishing not to be named.
 He said the ‘surprise checks’ would continue for next few days.
 Pertinently, on May 1, the CBI seized a filling station in frontier Kupwara district. The station, according to CBI, mixed kerosene with petrol and diesel, leading to probe by the investigating agency. “We have registered a case against the outlet owner. This raid is in continuation to seizure of the Kuwpara outlet,” the CBI official said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 15 May 2010 00:00:00 IST