Power co officials 'detained' at police station over high bill

A senior official of a power distribution company alleged on Thursday that he was summoned to a police station here and detained illegally over high electricity bills received by two police personnel.

The police denied that the official was detained. He was called for a "discussion" over inflated bills, they said.

Deputy General Manager (DGM) of the state-run MP Madhya Kshetra Vidut Vitaran Company, R S Bhadoria, claimed that four policemen landed at his office around 11 am on Wednesday and asked him to go to the Kotwali police station with them.

When he went to the police station with Nikhil Sharma, another official, they were shown high electricity bills received by two policemen at their homes. One of the bills was for Rs 1.47 lakh.

The policemen demanded that the bills be withdrawn, Bhadoria said.

The bill amounts were high as the policemen in question had never paid their power bills, and he told as much to the police station's in-charge, Bhadoria said.

But it angered the policemen who made them sit at the station from 11 am to 2.30 pm, the official said. They were finally allowed to leave after signing a notice, he added.

He had filed a complaint with the district collector, superintendent of police and senior officers of the power company, Bhadoria stated.

Kotwali police station in-charge Kushal Singh Bhadoria denied the allegations.

People were complaining about inflated power bills and the power company's officials were not addressing their complaints, so the DGM was called for a "discussion" on the issue, he added.

Morena's superintendent of police Asit Yadav termed it a "routine exercise".