2 arrested for extorting money by posing as BSES officials

Two men have been arrested for allegedly posing as officials of the BSES and demanding Rs 5 lakh from a consumer of the power discom in southeast Delhi's Tughlaqabad Extension, the police said today.
Posing as BSES enforcement team officials, the accused, along with four accomplices, had allegedly charged Narendra Kumar, a consumer of the power discom, with power theft by tampering the meter and demanded Rs 5 lakh from him on August 21, they said.
The accused had also conducted videography to impress Kumar. They pretended to check the power meter, charged him with electricity theft and allegedly managed to extort Rs 12,000 from him, a police officer said.

However, a neighbouring shopkeeper suspected the men to be fake officials of the BSES and alerted Kumar after which two of the accused, Sonu Kumar and Dhan Singh, were caught by them, the officer said, adding their four other accomplices managed to flee.
The accused were handed over to the police and a case was registered at Govindpuri police station on the complaint of Kumar, the police officer said.
According to BSES, in the last few months seven persons have been caught for posing as employees of the discom and trying to extort money from power consumers.
In the last two years, over 30 such impostors have been apprehended, a BSES spokesperson said.

"We appeal to our consumers not to get intimidated by threats or induced by false assurances and refrain from giving money to anyone. All fines and penalties and commercial payments are to be made only at designated BSES offices," he said.