Meter rigging racket: Role of power staff to be probed

LUCKNOW A number of LESA employees were under the scanner of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) after the UP STF on Sunday busted a gang engaged in rigging power meters across the state by using electronic chips and remote devices, indicating connivance of power staff in this fraudulent activity, said officials

“Some electronic devices were recovered from the arrested members of the gang,” said BS Khangaraut, MD, Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (MVVNL). He asked officials to form a team at the Madhyanchal headquarter level to probe how the meters were slowed down by the gang and whether there was any connivance of officers/employees of the corporation. The probe report would be submitted within a seven days, he added.

Five members of the gang were arrested from Lucknow’s Ashiana area, but the mastermind of the gang, Pawan Pal, known as ‘meter encyclopedia’ among his aides, was still at large, said a senior STF official.