Two people, including a contractual employee of BSES were arrested for allegedly cheating people by extorting money from customers on the pretext of electricity theft, the police said on Wednesday.
The accused Rajesh Sool, who is a contractual employee with the BSES along with Siaj Khan and other gang members used to cheat people since 2017, the police said.
The matter came to light after a complaint by a resident of South Delhi’s Sangam Vihar. He alleged that five people who claimed to be from the BSES had come to his house and taken away the meter saying that the seal of his meter was broken, according to the police.
The complainant alleged he received a call from one of them who told him that the meter was checked in a lab which revealed electricity theft. He also threatened that a case will be filed and he will have to pay ₹1 lakh fine. But, to settle the matter, they asked him to pay an amount of ₹70,000.
The complainant visited the BSES office to enquire about the five persons. After no proper information could be ascertained, he approached the police and a filed a case under appropriate sections was registered at Sangam Vihar police station.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said after analysing CCTV footage, we found that the accused had come in a car. The detail of the car was obtained and Siraj Khan was questioned and arrested after he confessed to his involvement in the incident and disclosed that the gang committed the crime in connivance with his accomplice Sool who is a contractual employee of the BSES.
Later, Sool, a resident of Madangir was also arrested, he said.
Explaining their modus operandi, the officer said Sool used to break the seal of electricity meter while he visited to change or install the meter with other BSES staff. After that, he provided the details of the meter owners to the gang members. The accused would go to the targeted addresses, pretending to be from BSES office and extorted the victims.
The car used in the commission of crime was seized. Also, the removed electric meter was recovered from the trunk of the car, the officer added.
Khan was previously arrested in 2017 in connection with another case registered at New Friends Colony police station, adding other accused are yet to be arrested, the police said.