A Navi Mumbai man has paid Rs 7 lakh charge and penalty for stealing electricity to keep his home air-conditioners running 24/7 for comfort of his pedigreed dogs, officials said on Saturday.
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) did not reveal his name but mentioned that the said man stole 34,465 units of electricity and has many foreign breed dogs as pets.
"In order to keep these dogs in absolute comfort, he kept ACs at his home running all through the day at a particular temperature. We zeroed in on him after receiving a tip-off about power theft," said an official.
The officals said that they took action against the person under Section 135 (electricity theft) of the Electricity Act, 2003.
Twitter users had extremely funny reactions to the news. A user wrote, "Hence Proved, dog love is the purest form of love. Another user said, "I hope this doesn't discourage him & he continues taking good care of his dogs!
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Earlier in February 2019, two people including owner Khalil Ahmed Navabali Subhedar and unit operator Anis Ahmed Shafiq Ahmad Khan, running an engineering unit in Thane, were found guilty of power theft and sentenced to two years in jail.
The owner was slapped with a fine of Rs 35.85 lakh, while the operator was charged Rs 5.97 lakh by district Judge P P Jadhav.
Also in 2019, an NCP youth wing leader Haroon Khan from Bhiwandi East was arrested allegedly for similar charges. The total amount of power theft was Rs 92,000.
(With PTI inputs)
