Maharashtra: Three power company employees, one other person held in Thane for bribery

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested an engineer, a technician and a clerk of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL) and another man in a case of bribery in Thane district, the ACB said on Tuesday.

On August 14, the 34-year-old assistant engineer of the MSEDCL's Kalyan division took away the power meter of a person's flat in Ambernath area on suspicion of tampering, Thane ACB inspector Hanmant Kshirsagar said in a release.

After checking the electricity meter on August 28, the engineer told the person there was a power theft for the last three years and that he would be required to pay an amount of Rs 3 to 4 lakh, including the power consumption charges and penalty, PTI reported.

The engineer also told the person that he could reduce the bill amount to Rs 1 lakh for which he allegedly sought a bribe of Rs 75,000 and later brought down the demand to Rs 70,000, the official said.

The person did not want to pay the bribe and lodged a complaint with the ACB's Thane unit, he said.

The ACB sleuths laid a trap on Monday and nabbed a 35-year-old man while he allegedly accepted the bribe amount of Rs 70,000 on behalf of the engineer from the complainant near a temple on Kalyan-Badlapur road in Ambernath, the official said.

The engineer as well as a junior clerk and a principal technician of the MSEDCL allegedly involved in the crime were also subsequently arrested, he said.

A case was registered against the four accused at Ambernath police station under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, he added.

Also read: Maharashtra: Case against Thane man, 6 other members of his family for harassing his wife

Meanwhile, Police registered a case against a 40-year-old man, his parents and four other members of his family in Thane for allegedly harassing his wife, an official said on Tuesday.

The man and his family, residents of Ampada in Bhiwandi area, allegedly demanded money from the 35-year-old woman and when she refused to get funds from her parents, she was subjected to constant harassment and cruelty, the official from Shanti Nagar police station said quoting the FIR.

The victim in her complaint said her husband also married another woman.

The man also disowned his daughter from the first wife (complainant) while doubting the latter's character, and he also went in for a DNA test of the daughter and himself, the police said quoting the complaint.

Based on the victim's complaint, offences were registered on Sunday against the man, his parents and four other family members under IPC sections 498(a) (subjecting wife to cruelty), 494 (marrying for second time during lifetime of the first wife or husband without getting divorce), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 34 (common intention), the official said. (Agencies)