Two masked men thrash lineman at power substation

Greater Noida: Two masked men thrashed a lineman at Dhummanik Pur substation in Badalpur for allegedly filing complaints of power theft against consumers at the

Greater Noida: Two masked men thrashed a lineman at Dhummanik Pur substation in Badalpur for allegedly filing complaints of power theft against consumers at the local police station. The victim was identified as Munendra Lohiya.

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This is the same power substation where a power operator was shot dead in April 2018 allegedly by a local gangster after supply was stopped during inclement weather.

Manoj Kumar, a junior engineer of Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), filed a complaint against the suspect in Badalpur police station in this regard. He said around 9.30am on Monday , two linemen Munendra Lohiya and Virendra Pratap Singh, were on duty at the substation. “Two masked men barged into the substation and caught hold of Lohiya and started beating him up. The criminals told Lohiya that he was from the same caste against whom Lohiya had filed power theft cases at the police station. They threatened to shoot him if he did not stop filing power theft complaints,” he said.

Kumar said he was also at the power substation at the time of the incident. “I reached the spot after hearing the scuffle. The masked men fled the spot,” he said. The victim then dialled police helpline (100) and reported the matter to police.

Pathneesh Kumar, in-charge of Badalpur police station, said a case has been registered against two unknown suspects under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), Section 506 (criminal intimidation), Section 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the IPC. “We have launched a search to arrest the suspects,” he said.

On April 21, 2018, power department official Satveer Tomar was shot dead at the same substation. Police said the accused Mantu, a resident of Gadhpura village, had reached the station with some local youths and complained about a power outage.

Tomar informed them that there was some technical problem and he assured them that the supply would be resumed soon. However, the accused lost their cool and Mantu shot Tomar dead.