Thane Police books 12 for power theft

The Thane Police in Maharashtra have registered a case against 12 persons on charges of electricity theft of more than Rs 12 lakh in the district, the officials said on Monday, reported the PTI.

They said that the officials of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) conducted inspections in Kongaon area of Bhiwandi on Saturday and found several consumers had tampered with the power supply lines. Many of them were found to have bypassed the electricity meters to draw power directly from wires connected to the electric poles, an official from Shanti Nagar police station said, according to the PTI.

The power theft of Rs 12.21 lakh is alleged to have taken place between October 2022 and December 2024, he said.

A case was registered on Saturday against 12 individuals under the Electricity Act, the police said.

“No arrest has been made so far. The investigation is in progress, and we are verifying the extent of involvement of each individual named in the complaint,” the police official added, as per the PTI.

Two duped of Rs 77.6 lakh in medical college admission fraud; 6 booked by Navi Mumbai cops

Meanwhile, in an another incident, two persons from Chhattisgarh and Bengaluru were allegedly cheated of Rs 77.61 lakh under the pretext of being provided PG course seats at a medical college in Navi Mumbai under management quota, police said on Sunday, reported the PTI.

The Nerul police in Navi Mumbai have registered two cases against six persons in this connection, they said.

According to the PTI, a 59-year-old man from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh in a police complaint alleged that the six accused promised to get his daughter a postgraduate seat in General Surgery course at a reputed Nerul-based medical college.

Between May 2022 and December 2023, the accused allegedly took Rs 1.27 crore from him. The man later found that all the communication, including the admission confirmation message, joining letter and college documents, were forged, an official from Nerul police station said, the news agency reported.

When the complainant enquired about the college admission, the accused returned Rs 85 lakh, but failed to refund the remaining Rs 42 lakh.

After multiple failed attempts to recover the balance amount, the victim approached the police, the official said.

Police uncovered another similar case, involving three of the six accused persons, as a 54-year-old man from Panathur, Bengaluru, alleged that he was duped of Rs 35.61 lakh after the accused promised admission to his nephew in the same medical college for the MD anesthesia course, the official said.

The Bengaluru-based complainant was also provided fake documents, including a `provisional allotment letter` purportedly from the medical counselling committee, a forged university letter, fee structure, joining letter and receipt, all of which were later found to be forged, he said.

The police is further investigating the matter.

(with PTI inputs)