Calcutta High Court on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail petition of Yusuf Khan, alias Raju, in connection with the theft of 19,506 drums of edible oil, worth Rs 2.7 crore, from a Garden Reach godown.

The oil drums were sent by the US government for the United Nations Integrated Child Development Scheme in Uttar Pradesh.

?Each drum contained 18.5 kg of edible oil. They were kept in a godown owned by Tapan Biswas at Garden Reach,? public prosecutor Kazi Safiullah told the court, arguing against the plea.

He added that the owner of the godown, when interrogated by the police, confessed that Yusuf Khan, the labour contractor, had stolen the oil with the help of his employees.

?The police had initiated a case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the director of the Integrated Child Development Scheme,? Safiullah said.

?The contractor?s employees took more than a week to steal the oil. They brought a tanker and poured the oil into it from the drums. The empty drums were kept at the rear of the godown. During inspection, the drums in front were found to be full,? the public prosecutor alleged.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Sekhar Bose said his client was not involved in the case. ?He has been falsely implicated,? Bose claimed.

The division bench of Justice Amit Talukdar and Justice S.P. Mitra, however, rejected the bail plea.

Public prosecutor Safiullah said such incidents might deter donors from sending material to the country.