Mumbai police detect power theft of Rs 1.09 cr by plastic factory, owned booked

Mumbai, July 18 (IANS) The Mumbai Police have detected a massive ‘power theft’ in a plastic factory in Andheri East and initiated legal proceedings against the violators, officials said here on Tuesday.

Following a complaint by the Adani Electricity Ltd. (AEL), the police and AEL’s vigilance teams kept watch and swooped on Crohast Plastic Moulding Manufacturing Ltd. in the Mahakali Caves area.

The offender was using 3-phase direct supply using a changeover switch to divert meter supply to direct supply and vice-versa for the plastic moulding and manufacturing factory.

So far, the company has reportedly cheated AEL to the tune of around Rs 1.09 crore. The owner of the plastic factory, Pankaj Vasudevan Nair, has been booked under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, an official said.

After an FIR was lodged at the Kherwadi police station, the case was transferred to the MIDC police station for further investigation.

This is the second case of large theft detected by the AEL vigilance and Mumbai Police. The earlier one was in June, with power pilfering worth Rs 1.33 crore by Jaini Traders, Malad East.

In the latest instance, the AEL said that though the vigilance sleuths had noticed certain irregularities, they did not have sufficient evidence. After a lot of efforts and obstacles, they managed to crack the case with proof.

The accused was found using 561,598 units over the past 4.5 years, worth Rs 1.09 crore.