Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Power theft racket busted

Staff Reporter

City-based electrician held on charges of tampering with meters

Aboobaker

Thiruvananthapuram: The Anti-Power Theft Squad of the Kerala State Electricity Board on Tuesday nabbed a city-based electrician on charges of tampering with meters to aid power theft in over 1,000 houses and commercial establishments.

Acting on a tip-off, the squad swooped down on Aboobaker alias `Reverse Aboobaker' at his house in the Balavan Nagar Colony near Manacaud and seized sophisticated equipment used for power theft.

The officials also found that the meter in the house was rigged to show a lower reading. KSEB Vigilance IG Rishi Raj Singh said the squad had been on Aboobaker's trail for the last three years.

Modus operandi

Explaining the modus operandi, he said Aboobaker would open the power meter at the client's house a few days before the scheduled date of meter reading. Using miniature equipment, he would reverse the reading by the required units and reseal the meter.

The process would be repeated before every meter reading. Aboobaker used to shift his residence frequently to evade the official dragnet.

Mr. Singh said preliminary investigation had revealed that Aboobaker was responsible for power theft to the tune of Rs.56 lakhs in the city over the last one year.

He had been handed over to the Poonthura police station to be booked under Section 138 of the Electricity Act.

The squad believes that Aboobaker is part of a network of professional power thieves who had received expert training in Mumbai and Chennai.

The team is well versed in over 100 methods to tamper with power meters. Officials of the squad claimed they were zeroing in on three of Aboobaker's accomplices.

Mr. Singh said the domestic and commercial consumers who had sought Aboobaker's expertise for power theft would also be brought to book.

The squad also released a list of 26 commercial establishments that had benefited from power theft.

The list includes hotels, bakeries, tailors, jewelleries, travel agencies, service stations, hairdressers, footwear and readymade shops.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

New block to be opened at Technopark by October
Union Budget evokes mixed reactions
Youth hacked to death in city
Power theft racket busted
Tracing an ancient trading route
A physicist's advice
Job portal to be inaugurated today
Of non-conventional energy
Official held on graft charge
Moving towards a new tax regimen
Next issue
Around The City
In Thiruvananthapuram Today
Campus Notes

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu