Meerut: UP Police busted a gang which allegedly carried out power thefts by means of wireless remote control devices, which helped in switching on and off the meter reading without disrupting the power coming in. These helped electricity consumers to use more power than the sanctioned load and still pay less. Meerut police arrested two members of this gang, which had been operating from the city by installing these wireless remotes in electricity meters and charging their customers Rs 2,000 per device.Additional director-general of police (ADG) Meerut zone Prashant Kumar said, “While no confirmed figure can be given, but depending on the fact that it has been going on for a year on a large scale in Meerut, we assume that the power corporation suffered losses to the tune of Rs 30 crore due to this theft.”Power corporation officials were regularly getting complaints about a huge gang, which was conducting power thefts by putting some device in the electric meters. The principal secretary (energy) even gave strict instructions to nab the gang causing losses to the department. The matter came to the fore on July 7 when one of the executive engineers in Meerut found power theft being done by means of a remote device at the residence of one Noorani in Nau Gaja area. It came to notice only when the meter reading was found stable despite electricity being consumed in the house. However, it abruptly started increasing, making the officials suspicious of the usage of a remote. During inspection, officials found a circuit inside the meter, which helped in running the remote device.“After this, a police team was formed to bust the gang. Two people — Saajid and Sanjay Kumar — residents of Meerut’s Shahpeer Gate and Shastri Nagar respectively were arrested. Also, 43 digital wireless remote controls were seized from their possession, apart from other equipment used in stealing power,” said Kumar.It was found during interrogation that the device was being purchased for Rs 250 each from Delhi by a Meerut-based shopkeeper, who further sold it to the gang at Rs 400 each.“During interrogation, Saajid said that he was already into the work of electric meter repairing and planned to ‘help’ the residents in saving electricity bills by power theft via remote controls. He purchased these remotes from Sanjay Electronics at Lisari Gate,” said Kumar.The remote control works similar to the remote of a car. The circuit of the remote is attached to the current transformer of the electricity meter, which in turn calculates the reading for the consumed power. When the circuit was switched off by means of the remote, the current transformer which computed the reading of the meter was also switched off, thereby disrupting power supply to the meter and hence stopping the calculation of the meter reading, thus reducing bills.“Power thefts lead to losses worth crores in Meerut. We suffer 32% loss in Meerut and this was one hi-tech way of theft which became difficult for us to crack with evidence. But now that the gang has been busted, we expect the situation to change,” said JK Gupta, executive engineer (urban region), Meerut.

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