Four persons were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly illegally selling commercial gas cylinders at exorbitant prices in Secunderabad after the Secunderabad Zonal Commissioner’s Task Force along with Gandhi Nagar police seized 129 cylinders and transport vehicles worth ₹7.5 lakh from them.
The accused have been identified as Yalam Parthip Kumar, 21, a gas delivery man from Karmanghat – a native of Nalgonda district, Jallela Mallesh, 25, a gas delivery man from Vijaya Laxmi Colony, Meerpet, a native of Nalgonda district, Mora Nagarjuna alias Arjun, 32, a driver living near Passport Office in Seshecbad and Mallesh 56, who runs a tiffin center in New Bhoiguda.
Police said the accused were nabbed at IDH Colony in New Bhoiguda following credible information about illegal sale of commercial gas cylinders to customers at higher than market rates.
According to the police, Parthip Kumar and Jallela Mallesh, who were employed as delivery men at Bhargavi Agency, allegedly conspired with their acquaintance Mora Nagarjuna to divert the commercial bottles to black market for illegal financial gains without the knowledge of the agency owner.
In the alleged operation, two deliverymen would hand over full commercial bottles to Nagarjuna at prices ranging from ₹3,500 to ₹3,800 per bottle, despite the original price being ₹3,337. Nagarjuna then allegedly sold them to owners of local restaurants and tiffin centers across Hyderabad for ₹5,000 per cylinder.
The fourth accused, Nagulapally Mallesh, was found to be among the customers buying the pressure cylinders.
The seized property included 129 commercial gas cylinders, of which 25 were full and 104 were empty, an Ashok Leyland truck with registration number TG 07 U 2257, a black Activa scooter with registration number AP 28 DP 1902, cash of ₹26,700 and four mobile phones.
Published – 06 May 2026 20:10 IST
