The police raided the house of Zia ur Rehman, a Member of Parliament from the Sambhal Socialist Party in Uttar Pradesh, over accusations of electricity meter tampering. This morning, a team from the electricity department, accompanied by the police, arrived at the MP’s house and conducted a search.
The team verified the readings of newly installed smart meters and discovered evidence of tampering in two meters at the MP’s residence. Allegedly, the MP threatened the police and electricity department officials during the inspection. As a result, the police filed a case against him under Article 135.
Previously, the electricity department had removed the old meter from the MP’s house, sealed it, and sent it to the lab for testing. The test revealed that the electricity bill for the MP’s residence showed a reading of zero for the entire year.
The department replaced the electricity meter within two days and also checked the electronic devices at the MP’s house to determine the number of devices in use.
In Sambhal, many homes, including mosques and madrasas, were found to be stealing electricity. Following recent violence, the administration has ramped up its crackdown on power theft, registering 1,250 FIRs in the last three months and imposing a fine of Rs 5 crore 20 lakh.