8 power discom staffers assaulted for removing illegal meter

GURUGRAM: Three members of a family were arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting officials of a vigilance team of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) during an inspection in Alipur village, near Bhondsi, to check power theft in the area.

The accused have been identified as Suneel, Yogesh and Jitendra, all residents of Alipur village, from whose house the DHBVN officials removed an illegal electricity meter.

According to the police, the incident took place around 7.45am when a vigilance team, including the Badshahpur subdivisional officer (SDO), two junior engineers, a lineman and civil staff, went to the village to inspect complaints of power theft.

Badshahpur SDO (operations) Dharmender Ruhil said, “Certain houses were stealing power by either connecting cables directly with the power source or by setting up meters illegally. Our team, accompanied by one assistant sub-inspector and two constables, started removing cables and meters, but the house owners started assaulting the officials. Junior engineer Mohan Lal sustained bruises on his neck, and his shirt was torn in the fight. He was taken to a private hospital for medication.”

The house owners threatened to pelt stones at our staff. Later, personnel from the Bhondsi police station arrived and rounded up the accused.”

Bhondsi station house officer, inspector Umesh Kumar, said, “The situation was brought under control before it could escalate further. No one sustained any serious injury. The accused were arrested and sent to judicial custody.”

The accused were booked under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of duty), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).