Police have filed a complaint against two persons for allegedly impersonating Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) officials and replacing electricity meters. The incident was reported in Market Yard in Manchar town of Ambegaon taluka and a case was registered on November 24.
This is second such case recorded this year. A similar case was reported in Chakan in September.
The incident came to light when MSEDCL provided an electricity connection in the name of Ambika Chavan in the area. An irregularity emerged during the routine monitoring of meter readings, revealing a mismatch between the customer number and the meter number in MSEDCL’’s computerised system.
Subsequently, assistant engineer of MSEDCL’s Manchar Sanjay Barhate and his team conducted a physical inspection at Chavan’s residence, discovering that a different company’s electricity meter had been fraudulently installed in place of MSEDCL’s meter.
Sanjay Barhate, assistant engineer of MSEDCL in Manchar, said, “After questioning Chavan, it came to light that two people, Ganesh Indore and Praveen Pachpute, pretending to be MSEDCL employees, visited Chavan’s home two months ago. They duped Chavan into paying ₹ 7,500, claiming that changing the meter would lead to a monthly reduction in the electricity bill. After accepting the payment, the fraudsters replaced the official meter with another, belonging to a different company.”
A case has been registered at Manchar police station against the two accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 170, 420, 427, 136, and 34.
{{/usCountry}}A case has been registered at Manchar police station against the two accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 170, 420, 427, 136, and 34.
{{/usCountry}}Rajendra Pawar, chief engineer of Pune Parimandal Mahavitaran, said, “Consumers should not let anyone tamper MSEDCL metres and not involve in financial transactions to reduce bill amount.”