13 October,2023 01:30 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
Thane crime: The Thane Police in Maharashtra have registered a case against 20 people for allegedly stealing electricity worth nearly Rs 40 lakh, an official said on Friday, according to the PTI.
The news agency 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.
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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.
Meanwhile, in an another incident May, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) officials raided farm house-cum-resorts in Murbad tehsil of Thane district and found nine cases of power theft, a release had earlier said, the PTI had previously reported.
Electricity theft worth a total of Rs 30.46 lakh was detected during the inspection on Friday, an official release had said, according to the PTI.
A flying squad of Kalyan MSEDCL raided 20 farmhouses and nine of them were found to be using power without meters and have consumed 52,429 units of power illegally, it added.
Notices have been issued to the owners and action will be taken if they failed to pay the bills and penalty, the release said.
The action comes days after an MSEDCL team accompanied by a few policemen visited Koni village near Dombivali earlier this week. During the checking, the officials of the MSEDCL had found an alleged illegal meter by a family in the village.
The incident had led to an attack on the MSEDCL team in which several people were injured, the PTI had reported earlier.
A police official suffered injuries after a mob attacked a flying squad of MSEDCL in the state's Thane district on Wednesday, an official had earlier told the PTI.
(with PTI inputs)
