THANE: An
Additional Executive Engineer of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (
MSEDCL) who allegedly 'favoured' a power consumer and drastically reduced his power bill by more than one-third, has been placed under suspension by the senior officials.
Anand Rathod, an additional executive engineer of the Shil subdivision is understood to have been misusing his position and indulging in malpractices.
Sources from MSEDCL informed that a team led by Rathod, had on 19 july raided the premises of one Pyari Begum Mohammad Munir who had leased it to Wasim Siddhique for commercial purpose in the Shil area.
“Total theft of 23826 units was found for the period of 24 months and the billed amount was collectively was Rs 3.69 lakhs," said a MSEDCL source.
Subsequently, an offence was registered by Assistant Engineer at Mumbra Police Station on August 16, 2018 under section-135 of Electricity Act for Rs 3,69 lakh for power theft.
But the Rathod modified or revised the bill of theft under section 135 on August 23 to 4376 units for the 6 Months and even the amount was reduced to Rs 77,190, said the official.
“After filing the FIR one is not suppose tamper the amount or reduce it hence he was held responsible and placed under suspension after conducting the internal inquiry,” said Pushpa Chavan, chief engineer, Bhandup engineer.
