Hotelier and Employees Arrested for Assaulting UPPCL Team Investigating Electricity Theft

A hotelier and four employees were arrested for assaulting a UPPCL team investigating electricity theft. The team, led by SDO Navneet Pandey, was confined at the hotel. Police intervened, rescuing the officials and arresting the perpetrators. Four accomplices remain at large.

A hotelier and four of his employees were arrested for assaulting and holding hostage a team from the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) that had arrived to investigate electricity theft, police said on Friday.

The UPPCL team, led by SDO Navneet Pandey and Junior Engineer Narendra Kushwah, was confronted and forcibly confined to a room at Shahid's hotel in Behta Hazipur, Loni town, after they found a significant amount of electricity being stolen and consumed at the hotel, a senior official said.

'The police promptly responded to the situation, rescuing the UPPCL officials and taking the accused into custody,' said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bhaskar Verma.

The accused were booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and produced in the court from where they were sent to jail, he added.

Four accomplices of the hotel owner are currently in custody, while an equal number remain at large and are being pursued by the authorities, the ACP said.

(With inputs from agencies.)