Factory owner gets 2 years RI for stealing electricity

A special court has sentenced a West Delhi-based factory owner to two years in prison and also imposed a fine of Rs 1.32 crore for stealing electricity.
The Special Court of Electricity at Dwarka convicted Manoj Kumar for stealing 103 KW of electricity for industrial purposes under section 135 of the Electricity Act 2003.
"The load is more than 10 KW and fine imposed should not be less than three times of the financial gain on account of theft of electricity. Hence, convict is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years with a fine of Rs eighty lakh and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for 6 months," Additional Sessions Judge, Suresh Kumar Gupta said.

"Accordingly, the civil liability on the basis of tariff rate is assessed at Rs 51,52,522, which is payable with simple interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the due date of bill till its payment," the court said.
The enforcement team of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited had, in June 2006, found Kumar stealing 103 KW of electricity at his village Kamruddin Nagar, in West Delhi.
In a separate case, a court in Saket sentenced four Munirka residents to two year rigorous imprisonment and cumulative fine of Rs 3.37 lakh.
In January 2008, the four, where found stealing power by by-passing the electricity meter and illegally tapping BSES' service lines.