BSES team attacked during power theft raid in Delhi, two arrested

A BSES inspection team was attacked while it was carrying out a raid to check power theft in southeast Delhi, resulting in injuries to two employees of the power distribution company, officials said.

Police arrested two persons in connection with the incident and their bail application was rejected by a Saket court yesterday, a BSES spokesperson said.

The team was attacked last Thursday while acting on a complaint that a resident named Irfan of Lal Kuan, Pul Prahaladpur, was involved in power theft. Irfan, his father Akbar and another person named Shabbir allegedly attacked the team members with sticks and bricks, the spokesperson said.

Two senior managers of the company, Manish Sharma and Vishal Prabhakar, sustained injuries during the melee. Prabhakar received injuries on his right leg whereas Manish suffered injuries on his chest and leg, the spokesperson said.

A case was registered in connection with the incident and Akbar and Shabbir, were arrested, while Irfan managed to escape. Those arrested were presented in the court and their bail was rejected.

Lal Kuan is a high-power theft area in south Delhi, where the discom looses around 2-3 million units of electricity annually, the BSES spokesperson said.

Such incidents are not infrequent. Even in February this year, a BSES team was attacked and a senior official had sustained head injuries," the spokesperson said.

The BSES teams often face people who work like "organised gang" in such sensitive areas and more police support is needed by the discom to curb power theft.

Asserting that power theft has taken the shape of "organised crime" in sensitive areas, the spokesperson said Najafgarh, Jaffarapur, Mundka, Badarpur, Shaheen Bagh, Karawal Nagar, Nand Nagari, Mandawali among others are some high loss pockets where power theft leads to revenue loss as well as burden on the distribution network.