Press Release
Irony at its best! Power thieves conned by Impostors
- Impostors con and dupe 3 residents of Madhu
Vihar, near Palam of Rs 90,000
- Electricity meters of the 3 residents were
earlier found tampered by BSES Enforcement Teams
- Impostors, masquerading has BSES officials,
informed the residents that they have been booked for power theft under
DAE and penalty bills of around Rs 2 lakh are being raised
- Impostors offered to ‘settle’ the case
and took Rs 30,000 each against ‘reduced’ Enforcement bills and ‘new’
meters
- Impostors later installed ‘new’ meters
and Meter Change Report were provided to the residents
- Subsequent visit to BSES’ Enforcement
office made them realise that the duo were infact impostors and not BSES
officials
- Enforcement Bills and Meter Change
Report furnished by impostors were found to be fake
- ‘New’ meters installed were found to
have been stolen from 3 vacant flats in Dwarka
- The 3 Madhu Vihar residents, later
confessed to tampering their meters and agreed to pay the DAE penalty and
help in the investigations
- Post FIR, one of the accused arrested. Hunt for the accomplice is
on
Ironical as it may sound, recently BSES came
across a unique case, where three residents of Madhu Vihar, near Palam - who
were conning BSES by stealing electricity by tampering their electricity meters,
themselves falling victims to conning. The trio was conned and duped by Impostors,
who swindled them of Rs 30,000 each – totaling Rs 90,000.
The unique case came to light, when the trio -
Mahesh Mishra, Vikram and Ramesh – residents of C 1/25, C 1/40 and C 1/38 Madhu
Vihar respectively visited BSES’ Vigilance Office and narrated the sequence of
events. They also confessed to tampering their electricity meters.
Narrating the sequence of events, they said,
on January 17, 2008, an inspection by BSES Enforcement Teams found their
electricity meters tampered. The following day, they were visited by two
persons – Vinod Kumar and Sanjay Anand – masquerading as BSES officials –
reportedly informing them that cases of Dishonest Abstraction of Energy (DAE) have
been booked against each of them for tampering their meters and power theft
bills of around Rs 2 lakh are being raised against each of them. Getting a
whiff of panic among the ‘power thieves’, the alleged BSES personnel – the
impostors – offered to ‘settle’ the case on a payment of Rs 70,000 each. The
deal was finally stuck for Rs 30,000 each for reducing their bills and
installing ‘new’ meters.
On January 20, the impostors revisited the
trio to collect (collected) the ‘settled’ amount towards payment of these bills
and installation of new meters and handed them Enforcement Bills (with due date
of January 28) – later found to be forged – of Rs 23,700. Rs 27,400 and Rs
42,300 respectively. On January 28, the
impostors again visited the trio, as promised, and ‘installed’ the ‘new’
meters. They even handed over the Meter Change Reports (MCRs) to consumers for
their newly installed meters. They also promised to give the three residents
letters from the BSES’ Enforcement Department, intimating the closure of the
Enforcement Cases again them.
The three residents grew suspicious when for 6
days; the promised intimation letter from the Enforcement Team never came. They
then decided to visit the Enforcement Department themselves and enquire. At the
BSES Enforcement Office, to their utter astonishment, the trio of Mahesh Mishra,
Vikram and Ramesh was told that the DAE cases against them were still in
progress and no bills had yet been processed. They were further informed that the Bills and
MCRs provided to them were fake and that nobody had been authorized to visit
them to ‘settle’ the case. The trio then realized that the alleged BSES
officials who had visited them were infact impostors.
The trio also informed BSES officials; they
had managed to locate the address of Sanjay Anand – one of the impostors – but
had not found him there. Instead they had been beaten by some goons.
Subsequently, they filed a Police complaint against the two impostors. Confessing
their crime of tampering their meters, the trio – vowed to help BSES officials
catch the two impostors. They also agreed to pay the DAE bills that would be
raised against them.
Subsequent investigations by BSES revealed
that the three ‘new’ meters that were installed at the trio’s respective
residences were infact stolen from 3 vacant flats in Dwarka. Further a FIR (No
112) under sections 384/419/468 / 471 / 120 B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
has been registered at the Dabri Police station against the impostors. Infact
Sanjay Anand – one of the impostors – has been arrested by the Police. The hunt
for his accomplice – Vinod Kumar is on and he is likely to be apprehended soon.
Investigations also revealed that the duo –
Sanjay Anand and Vinod Kumar – were employees of M/s NCNL – a contractor –– who
was sacked in December 2007, for indulging in undesirable activities.
“BSES urges its customers to
guard against unscrupulous elements - out to make a quick buck in a clandestine
manner and tarnish the company’s image – and not to get intimidated by their
threats and false assurances – and not to give them any money – whatever be the
reason. All Enforcement related and other payments (fines, penalties and other
commercial payment) and are to be made
only at designated BSES offices”, said a BSES official.
The official added, “Customers are further
advised to ascertain and verify the identity of persons wanting to check the
meter and should immediately alert the nearest BSES office or call 39999808 and
39999707 and inform the local Police should they notice anything suspicious”
BSES, Delhi’s premier power
distribution company, is committed to ensuring quality and reliable electricity
supply to all its consumers.
For further information please
contact:
|
Prashant Dua |
Chandra
P Kamat |
|
Corporate Communications |
Corporate
Communications |
|
39999870 / 9312007822 |
39999088/9350130304 |