Plastic bag manufacturer gets 2-year RI for power theft

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A court in Thane district has sentenced a plastic bag manufacturer to two years of rigorous imprisonment in a 15-year-old power theft case. In the order passed recently, District Judge P P Jadhav also imposed a fine of Rs 1.26 crore on Abutalib Shamshuddin Khan (57). If he fails to pay the fine amount, he will have to undergo additional one year of simple imprisonment.

Assistant public prosecutor Vivek Kadu told the court that a flying squad of the Maharashtra power utility had conducted a raid at Khan's factory on Shil-Mahape Road in Thane district in January 2004 and found that the electricity metres were tampered with.

The team found that Khan had committed a theft of 10,32,026 power units, worth Rs 52.65 lakh, over a period 34 months, he said.

An offence under the Electricity Act was registered against him at the Mumbra police station.

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