2 Delhi 'power thieves' get jail, over Rs 4 cr fine

A businessman convicted of power theft in Delhi's eastern suburbs has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined over Rs 3.6 crore, BSES, one of the two electricity distribution companies (discoms) in the capital, said on Thursday.

Special Courts at Karkardooma and Saket have convicted the owner of a mid-sized industrial unit in Yamuna Vihar and a resident of the upmarket Sainik Farms (south Delhi) of large-scale power theft, a BSES statement said.

The Special Court at Karkardooma convicted businessman Prem Prakash Sharma alias Kalu Pandit for stealing over 141 KW of power and illegally running a factory "in a non-conforming area and for domestic use".

"Of this, 137 KW was being used for industrial purposes and 4 KW for domestic purposes", BSES said.

"Refusing to show leniency to the accused for stealing power and causing pollution, the order of Special Court of Electricity, Karkardooma says 'it is clear from the record that the industrial activities being carried out by the convict was of hazardous nature causing the air as well as water pollution'", it added

Sharma was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined Rs 3.67 crore.

According to the discom, the Special Court judge in his order also came down heavily on such illegal industries operating in residential areas.

In the second case, the Special Court of Saket convicted Kanwaljeet Singh Khurana, a resident of Anupam Garden in Sainik Farms, for stealing 17.8 KW of power in 2005 by directly tapping into the BSES mains for domestic purposes.

Khurana was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for year and pay a fine of Rs 3,36,639, BSES said.

"A civil liability of Rs 2, 24,246 was also fixed," it said.

In case of default of the fine payment, the convict has been directed to serve a jail term of six months, the statement added.

Last year, a young BSES engineer lost his life and four other officials were seriously injured when they were attacked by power thieves during a discom drive against theft.

The BSES has earlier announced the sentencing of four offenders to jail terms and cumulative fines of over Rs 1 crore for power thefts in the capital.

--IANS

bc/vd