"It is surprising why new Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is shying away from a CBI enquiry. The state police enquiry won't be able to reveal who was protecting the accused Popat Shinde and others," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

He said that the murder of Sonawane, who was allegedly burnt alive on Tuesday, was a result of the "well established nexus between oil mafias and the ruling politicians. This is a blatant case of worst kind of criminalisation in the infamous adulteration industry. A continued adulteration racket cannot be sustained without political protection."

Javadekar alleged that thousands of crores of rupees had changed hands in this trade and the issue was not of Sonawane's murder alone.

"This racket involves 520 crores litre of kerosene and Rs 25,000 crore," he said.

The BJP spokesman maintained that factories which had been shut down were covertly used for mixing kerosene in diesel.

"The officials are afraid of taking action as they fear they will meet the same fate as Sonawane," Javadekar said.