Digboi, July 29 -- An excavator engaged in a township drain construction project exposed an illegal underground piped water pilferage late Monday evening at Digboi's Borbil No. 2 in Assam's Tinsukia district.

"At the site, we detected two illegal connections along with a valve that was channeling refinery water to the private residence of a former PWD engineer based in Borbil village under Digboi Police Station," said a source.

Upon receiving the information, a team from Assam Oil Division (AOD) Digboi Refinery, headed by the General Manager of Power and Utility Services, rushed to the site and sealed the illegal connections.

"The refinery operations nearly came to a halt for a day because of the sudden disruption in the water pipeline...