Five held for illegally diverting and selling power

Police has busted a gang of five persons who were allegedly involved in the illegal diversion of power from a pole of a private supplier and distributing it mainly to slum-dwellers in suburban Govandi.
The five were arrested on Monday on the complaint filed by Reliance Energy.
The accused threatened the officials of the company after they were asked to mend their ways and also damaged the sophisticated pole installed in the area on August 7 after their demand of Rs 50,000 was not met.
The complainant estimated the loss of over Rs 3,00,000 due to the power theft.
"We conducted a through probe into the matter and booked nine people under sections 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and other relevant sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act," DCP (Zone VI) Shahaji Umap said, adding five of the accused were arrested on Monday.

The accused had the cases of extortion, robbery, kidnapping etc. Pending against them.
Similar gangs are active in the areas near Govandi and the police were trying to trace them, Umap added.