Maharashtra: ACB held 3 power company employees for bribery in Thane

In an instance of bribery in Thane district, the Anti-Corruption Bureau detained an engineer, a technician, and a clerk of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL).

According to a notification from Thane ACB inspector Hanmant Kshirsagar, the MSEDCL's Kalyan division's 34-year-old assistant engineer removed the power metre from a person's apartment in the Ambernath neighbourhood on August 14 due to suspicions of tampering.

After checking the electricity meter on August 28, the engineer told the person there was a power theft for the last three years and that he would be required to pay an amount of Rs 3 to 4 lakh, including the power consumption charges and penalty. The engineer also told the person that he could reduce the bill amount to Rs 1 lakh for which he allegedly sought a bribe of Rs 75,000 and later brought down the demand to Rs 70,000, the official said.

ACB sleuths laid a trap on Monday and nabbed a 35-year-old man while he allegedly accepted the bribe amount of Rs 70,000 on behalf of the engineer from the complainant near a temple on Kalyan-Badlapur road in Ambernath, the official said. The engineer as well as a junior clerk and a principal technician of the MSEDCL allegedly involved in the crime were also subsequently arrested, he said.