New Delhi, Apr 9 A Delhi court has convicted a man for electricity theft and fined him Rs 1.72 lakh, holding that the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was involved in direct tapping of power supply from a distribution pole at his south Delhi residence.
Additional Sessions Judge Vivek Kumar Gulia convicted Kuldeep under section 135 (electricity theft) of the Electricity Act, 2003, in a case based on a complaint from BSES Rajdhani Power Limited.
"It is held that sufficient, consistent and convincing evidence has come on record to show that accused Kuldeep was the user of the inspected premises at the time of inspection and that he dishonestly used electricity without any authorised source," the court said in an order dated April 6.
According to the complaint, on August 25, 2020, authorised officers of BSES Rajdhani Power Limited conducted an inspection at the premises occupied by Kuldeep in Katwaria Sarai. They did not find any electricity meter installed and power was being drawn directly from a BSES pole using an illegal wire.
Representing the complainant in the court, advocate Atul Jain highlighted that the inspecting team assessed a connected load of about 6.7 kW for domestic use and raised a theft bill of Rs 1.27 lakh that remained unpaid.
Multiple members of the inspection team testified during the trial that the premises had no authorised electricity connection and that illegal tapping was taking place. The proceedings were also videographed and the footage corroborated the oral evidence, the court noted.
"The video presented by the complainant side has also captured the manner of theft of electricity explained by the said witnesses. Not only this, the accused has admitted the fact of direct theft during his statement under section 313, CrPC (power to examine the accused about incriminating circumstances)," the court said, as it agreed with the prosecution's case.
Rejecting the defence's argument that the convict had no connection with the premises, the court observed that he was present during the inspection as seen in the video, was identified by witnesses and had failed to produce any material to show that he resided elsewhere. It also noted that Kuldeep had earlier settled two more complaint cases against him, arising out of the same premises, with complete payment.
"It is safe to draw a firm conclusion that the complainant has been able to establish the charge against accused Kuldeep for the offence punishable under section 135 of the Electricity Act beyond reasonable doubt and thus, he stands convicted for the said offence," the court held.
In an order dated April 8, the court determined the civil liability of the convict to be Rs 1.14 lakh and considering that Kuldeep had already partially paid Rs 24,600 during the trial, he was directed to discharge a civil liability of Rs 90,344.
In the sentencing order, the court took a lenient view as regards imprisonment in light of the convict's clean antecedents and partial discharge of civil liability. It only slapped a fine of Rs 1.72 lakh on him, observing that the imposition of the statutory minimum penalty would meet the ends of justice.
Meanwhile, the court allowed the convict's plea for suspension of the sentence to enable him to file an appeal, granting him bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 15,000 with a surety for a period of 60 days.
