26 October,2023 02:39 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File/iStock
Maharashtra crime: The Police have registered an offence against two brothers for allegedly stealing electricity worth more than Rs 16 lakh at Taloja in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra since 2017, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, the power theft came to light after a flying squad of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) conducted an inspection and found that the electricity meters at two premises owned by the duo were tampered with, he said.
"During the inspection conducted on September 27, the MSEDCL found that 76,944 units of power worth Rs 16,17,160 had been stolen by the accused, identified as Vinod Keni and Raju Keni, starting May 2017," the official of Taloja police station said, as per the PTI.
The accused are developers by profession, the police said.
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During the operation, the MSEDCL squad detected power meters of the two premises owned by the duo in Taloja, including a gym, were tampered with to reduce the amount of energy consumption recorded, which resulted in the company suffering losses, they said.
Based on a complaint lodged by the MSEDCL officials, an offence was registered against the accused under the Electricity Act late Wednesday night, they said, according to the PTI.
Meanwhile, the Thane Police in Maharashtra had in mid-October registered a case against 20 people for allegedly stealing electricity worth nearly Rs 40 lakh, an official had earlier said, according to the PTI.
The news agency had reported, the alleged power theft was discovered by officials from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) during a raid at Khoni village in May.
MSEDCL officials found that about 20 residents in Thane district of Maharashtra had been illegally drawing power with the help of hooks instead of going in for regular meters, as per the PTI.
After an assessment, the officials concluded that the accused had consumed nearly 1.46 lakh units of power worth about Rs 40 lakh, the police official said.
On a complaint by MSEDCL, a case was registered on Thursday under the Electricity Act, said the station house officer of Mahatma Phule Chowk police station in Kalyan.
(with PTI inputs)
