Torrent raids unearth power theft worth lakhs of rupees

Ahmedabad, Oct 31 (UNI) The vigilance officials of Torrent Power today raided a guest house on Naroda Road here and unearthed a power theft amounting to lakhs of rupees.

The company, in a release here, said its officials found that the guest house had taken a direct connection from the main cable of the previously disconnected service. The company has initiated steps to recover the outstanding energy bills aggregating Rs 10 lakh from the owner of the premises.

In another crackdown, the officials raided a restaurant near the Geeta Mandir ST bus-stand at 0200 hrs and caught the restaurant owner stealing energy directly from the main cable. A changeover switch located near the cash counter of the restaurant was also seized. One air-conditioner, three deep-freezers and some lights and fans were found to be working directly from the main cable at the time of the raid. Energy worth Rs 1.5 lakh was said to have been stolen.

This raid came close on the heels of another raid, wherein a prominent showroom in the Bapunagar area was found to be using power directly. In this instance, the power utility officials recovered Rs 7 lakh from the owner of the showroom.

Another showroom owner on Relief Road was also caught indulging in power theft and a direct wire used to by-pass the meter was sized, the release said.

In a landmark judgment, Metropolitan Magistrate J K Pandya sentenced Jethanand Hirwani to eight months imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 5,000. If the accused fails to pay the fine, he would have to undergo 30 days more simple imprisonment. This sentence relates to theft of energy observed in service numbers 18909, 520944 and 520943, of Vinus and Ashirwad Restaurants belonging to Jethanand Hirwani. City civil cases are still pending against the accused involving assessment of over Rs 13 lakh, it added.

UNI