Delhi mother-son duo, restaurateur jailed, fined for power theft

Three persons, including a mother-son duo and a restaurant owner, have been convicted of power theft in the national capital and sentenced to various jail terms, Delhi electrcity distribution company (discom) BSES said.

While the Local Special Electricity Courts awarded jail terms to both the mother and the son of a family in east Delhi besides slapping a penalty of around Rs 2.70 lakh on them, a South Delhi restaurant owner has been penalised over Rs 6 lakh and sentenced till the rising of the Court, a BSES statement said on Wednesday.

"The son (Sanjeev Jain) has been awarded simple imprisonment for one-year, while his mother (Uma Jain) has been jailed for six months. In the second case, a south Delhi restaurant owner has been penalised over Rs 6 lakh and sentenced till rising of the court," it said.

According to the discom, its inspection team, accompanied by Delhi Police personnel, had in 2011 unearthed power theft committed by the mother-son duo via by-passing the BSES electricity meter.

Moreover, the Special Court at Karkardooma also found the son, Sanjeev Jain, guilty of impersonation, and directed that he be jailed for one year, besides paying a fine. In case of default in paying the penalty, he would have to undergo simple imprisonment for another month.

In the other case, the Special Court of Saket convicted a south Delhi restaurant owner, Mickey Tewatia, for stealing electricity for non-domestic purposes.

"The accused was running a restaurant on IGNOU Road in south Delhi, where the second and the third floor did not have metered electricity. When he did not pay the electricity bill of Rs 2.87 lakh, an FIR was registered against him," BSES said.

"He was sentenced till rising of the Court and penalised Rs 6 lakh (fine Rs 4.31 lakh + Rs 1.75 civil liability). In default of the fine, he will undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one-month," it added.

Last year, a young BSES engineer lost his life and four other officials were seriously injured when they were attacked by power thieves during a discom drive against power theft.

BSES had earlier announced the sentencing of nine offenders to jail terms and cumulative fines of over Rs 6 crore for power thefts in the capital.

( With inputs from IANS )