Gurugram: Man forges document to get new electricity line, arrested

Police arrested a stamp paper vendor from his shop at Wazirabad on Friday evening for allegedly creating a forged document of the Union ministry of home affairs and submitting it to the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to get a new electricity connection for his rented flat in D-block of Ardee city in Sector-52.

Police said the accused, Sanjay Kumar Singh (45), a native of Basarikpur village in Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, was living in the flat without paying rent to the owner for seven years and was also not paying electricity bills, following which the power supply to his residence was disconnected in October last year.

According to police, Singh started living in the flat from December 2014. “The tenure to vacate the flat ended in November 2015 but he is yet to vacate it. An eviction suit filed by the complainant is pending before a Gurugram court,” said a senior police officer.

Police said the cheating came to light when colonel (retired) Rajendra Singh, owner of Singh’s flat, reached Gurugram from Bikaner and visited officials of the state power utility on December 23 last year to know how Singh was getting power supply when the electricity connection to his residence was already snapped. It was then that the officials showed him the application made by his tenant along with the forged documents.

On December 24, the retired army officer submitted a complaint alleging that Singh had forged his signatures to prepare a no-objection certificate for getting the electricity connection in his name as it was disconnected due to non-payment of bills.

Police said an FIR was registered against Singh soon after they received a reply from the Union ministry of home affairs on Friday stating that the document submitted with the ministry’s letterhead to the state power utility was forged.

Police said Singh allegedly forged a letter in the name of one K P Singh, showing him as an officer on special duty to the Union home minister and submitted it to the DHBVN executive engineer for treating his application for a new electricity connection favourably.

“MHA in its reply informed police that no such officer named K P Singh actually exists in the ministry,” said a senior police officer.

An FIR was registered against Singh at Sector 53 police station on Friday evening under Sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (punishment for forging documents or electronic records) and 472 (making or counterfeiting seals, plates for purpose of committing forgery) of the Indian Penal Code.

Singh was produced before court on Saturday, which granted one-day police remand for his interrogation.

Subhash Chand, station house officer of Sector-53 police station, said, “We are currently interrogating Singh. Investigation is on.”

Chand said the state power utility had slapped penalty to the tune of ₹1.15 lakh on Singh for electricity theft after his power supply was disconnected. DHBVN officials said Singh is yet to clear the dues.