Man gets one-year jail term, fined Rs 38 lakhs for stealing power

 A man has been sentenced to a year in jail and fined Rs 37.99 lakh for stealing electricity with the court saying that deterrent punishment must be imposed to make power theft a "wholly non-profitable venture."

Additional Session Judge Suresh Kumar Gupta convicted Delhi resident Inderjeet for power theft on the complaint of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited that he had stolen electricity worth over Rs 25 lakhs for industrial purposes.

"The load is more than 10 KW and fine imposed should not be less than three times the financial gain on account of theft of electricity. The bill raised for a sum of Rs 25.32.
"Hence, convict is sentenced to undergo imprisonment for one year with a fine of Rs 37.99 lakh...," the court said adding the convict is not entitled to any lenient view.

"No leniency should be shown to such convicts who should bear in mind that they will have to face serious consequences. A deterrent punishment should be imposed to make the theft of electricity a wholly nonprofitable venture," it added.

The prosecution case dated back to November 22, 2007 when a joint inspection team had raided the workshop of the accused and found that he was stealing electricity by illegally tapping into the main power supply of the discom.

The discom, subsequently, served the convict with a bill of Rs 25.32 lakh for the stolen electricity. However, after the convict failed to pay the bill, the company had filed the complaint.

During the trial, the convict had argued that he had no connection with the raided premises. The court, however, rejected his argument relying on the testimonies of witnesses that the accused was the owner of the said premises.

The court said, "The honest consumer has to bear the burden of power theft by paying the electricity charges on increased tariff rates.

"The electricity theft is not only an economic issue but it is also a safety issue. The offenders are putting themselves as well as the lives of innocent persons at risk by interfering with the power connections. There was indiscriminate use of electricity by the convict because he knew that he does not have to pay the consumption charges."