Hyderabad: 2 arrested for stealing soaps worth Rs 39.7 lakh

Hyderabad: The Maheshwaram police who were on the trail of a load of Santoor soap that went missing, cracked the rare theft case on Thursday to find that Rajesh Ved (52), a sweet shop owner from Pune and a resident of Gajularamaram, and Sushil Bera (32) from Sangareddy district and a native of Kolkata, had allegedly diverted the load so as to sell them fraudulently. Two of their accomplices, Venkat and Pareesh from Maharashtra, are absconding.

According to the police, Ved and Bera decided to steal goods by diverting trucks loaded with material. They, along with Venkat and Pareesh, went to Dhule (MP) and established a transport office in the name of Shree Sai Transport in April. They took a truck on lease from one Ruknuddin for Rs 70,000 a month.

In May, they transported soaps from Maharashtra and Karnataka to Maheshwaram. On June 27 they loaded soaps worth Rs 39.7 lakh from a store house in Maheshwaram to be unloaded at Tumkur (Karnataka).

However, after reaching Rudram village, they stopped the truck and unloaded the material into two storage units. They transported the stock to Macha Bolarum in auto-trolleys and sold some to local dealers at cheap rates. Based on a complaint of Mandeep Kumar, the transport manager for Super Safe Logistics in Vanasthalipuram, a case was booked and they were arrested. The police recovered soaps worth Rs 38 lakh, a truck and Rs 1.2 lakh.