Trader faces `8cr fine, jail

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Anita Narre, a tribal from Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district who revolted against poor sanitation at her in-laws house

A special court of electricity in Dwarka has awarded the severest punishment ever meted-out in a case of power theft to a leading West Delhi industrialist, a habitual power thief, for stealing 540 KW of electricity.
The court of additional sessions judge Suresh Kumar Gupta not only imposed a cumulative fine of `8 crores (fine `6 crores and civil liability of `2 crores) on accused Manoj Kumar, also sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment.
On the civil liability component of the fine, the court also ordered the accused to pay interest of six per cent from January 2008 till realisation of the amount. Additionally, the court also barred him from getting electricity from any source for a period of one year.
Disregarding the pleas of the accused, the special court judge ruled, “I have no hesitation to hold that complainant company has proved the case against the accused Manoj Kumar beyond shadow of reasonable doubt. Hence, accused Manoj Kumar is held guilty u/s 135 (of the) Electricity Act, 2003 and is convicted.”
On December 12 2007, a joint inspection by BSES Rajdhani Power Limited enforcement teams and officials from the Delhi police and the CISF at a large industrial unit revealed unprecedented power-theft of 540 KW. The industrial unit was engaged in the manufacture of plastic bags. Though four meters were found on the premises — 2 electro-mechanical and 2 electronic — all were turned out to be fake. They were not installed by BSES.
During the trial, the accused took the defence that the premises did not belong to him and on the date of inspection, he was attending a hearing in the special court of electricity for an earlier power-theft case. He failed to prove both the facts.