In the last few days, the city police have acted on at least half a dozen complaints of power theft lodged by CESC and arrested at tleast five persons.
Most of the cases were reported in Ekbalpore, Watgunge and Garden Reach areas of the port division of the city police.
Two of the accused — Shahbaz Golam, 25, and Noor Hassan, 44 — were arrested in separate cases of alleged electricity theft in Ekbalpore.
Both accused have been booked for charges that, if proved, could lead to a maximum punishment of 10 years in jail (See chart).
The police said the arrests followed complaints lodged by CESC.
Golam, 25, a resident of Ekbalpore Lane, has been arrested for allegedly tampering with a common meter and letting many residents draw power illegally from it.
“Residents of at least a dozen flats were beneficiaries of the power theft from the meter, which was in the name of Golam’s grandfather. She had died a long time ago,” said an investigator.
“Hassan, of MM Ali Road, is one of the beneficiaries of electricity theft as reported by CESC,” said the officer. Hassan’s arrest was in a case that is different from the one that led to Golam’s arrest.
Hassan, the police said, has claimed that he, being a tenant, had entered into a rent agreement with his landlord that included charges for electricity drawn from a common meter.
The police said they were yet to get hold of the rent agreement.
“The case has been started based on a complaint filed by CESC, which is the lone power distributor in Kolkata and adjoining districts,” the officer said.
Golam and Hassan have been booked under Sections 135 and 138 of the Electricity Act, which deal with electricity theft and tampering with meters, and also under Section 9 of the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1972, which deals with the offence of carrying out any subversive activity.
CESC officials said the person who is stealing electricity and the beneficiary of the theft are equally culpable before the law.
“When someone is found breaking the law on the spot, the person who is directly involved (the beneficiary) is the first offender. Then during investigation, the names of the people who are behind this emerge. All are equal offenders,” said a CESC official.
In a city where a large section of the population stays under flyovers and fails to manage a square meal a day, many are tempted to procure electricity illegally from a common meter at a nominal cost.
The drive against power theft started after an elderly woman and her daughter died possibly after being electrocuted in Ekbalpore on May 14.