Friday, Apr 28, 2006 at 02:04
from an update on the left side;
Ramar Pillai admits it was not herbal fuel
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHENNAI, MARCH 14: Ramar Pillai, who claimed to have invented herbal fuel, has now reportedly admitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation that he was not making or selling herbal fuel.
The CBI, which is interrogating Pillai after he was arrested a couple of days ago, has also obtained clinching evidence that Pillai was buying organic chemicals from the market and selling it as herbal fuel by mixing the chemicals with additives. ``The material being sold is definitely not of herbal origin, but petroleum products produced by oil companies.''
Sources told The Indian Express that Pillai admitted he was buying these chemicals from local markets and added that after initial resistance, Pillai was giving details of his operations. Pillai is under
police custody for six days and judicial custody until March 24.
The CBI has seized several bill books from Pillai's Kodambakkam house and Pallavaram godown which details the purchases relating to Benzene and Toluene made by him from intermediaries.
Investigations revealed that Pillai was buying these organic chemicals from chemical agents in Broadway, Chennai. The CBI has identified all the chemical dealers and interrogated a few of them, who have corroborated the evidence thus far, sources said.
The CBI also recovered a text book on chemical technologies from Pillai's house. ``It does not deal with herbs,'' the sources added.
Meanwhile, the CBI is in receipt of a report from the Indian Institute of Technology, which has clearly stated that Pillai's claims are false. The report, compiled by the Committee of Scientists, says:
(a) The starting materials used for demonstrating the production of herbal fuel does not contain any component of normal petroleum products.
(b) The herb brought in by Pillai does not play any role and does not produce any petrol.
(c) The normal petroleum products available in retail outlet cannot be produced by this method and by these starting materials.
(d) The so-called `fermented liquid' claimed by Pillai is nothing but a mixture of commercially available chemicals like Tetrahydrofura and Lawic acid.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Damn, and i was going to start brewing up all the weeds in the garden :-))
AnswerID:
169412