BJP youth wing leader booked for allegedly detaining UP officials over electricity theft complaint

Police have booked the district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for allegedly keeping three officials of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) captive for two hours on Monday over a complaint of electricity theft lodged by the officials.

The alleged incident took place at the UPPCL office in Badalpur of Greater Noida on Monday morning when Annu Pandit, district president of the BJYM, and over 100 other persons allegedly barged into the office of Sanjay Kumar Sharma, sub divisional officer (SDO) of UPPCL.

“I was part of a meeting with Manoj Kumar Singh, the junior engineer, and another SDO, Mukesh, over revenue related issues when Annu Pandit and over 100 men barged into the office and snatched our phones. They threatened us with dire consequences if we did not pay heed to their demands. After two hours of being held captive, a phone call was made by one of the staff members from outside and the police arrived. Even then, Pandit and his supporters kept on threatening us,” Sharma alleged.

Officials alleged Pandit had threatened them to retract an FIR they had filed against a resident of Accheja village in Dadri over electricity theft in 2017. “There was electricity theft going on in a house owned by a person named Mahendra and we had lodged an FIR back in April, 2017. Pandit threatened us that he will blacken our faces and rip our clothes if we don’t take the complaint back and resume power supply to the mentioned house. He then gave us an ultimatum of three days to settle the matter,” Sharma added.

Police said an FIR has been lodged against Pandit and the 100 other persons. “After we received information, we reached the spot and tried to diffuse the matter. Taking cognizance of the complaint by the officials, an FIR has been lodged against Annu Pandit, Atul Pandit, Raj Nagar and 100 other unknown persons under Indian Penal Code sections 147, 342, 363, 427, 504 and 506 for rioting, wrongful confinement, kidnapping, mischief, intentional insult and criminal intimidation, respectively,” Nagendra Chaubey, SHO, Badalpur police station, said.

Reacting to the allegations put forward by officials, BJYM president Pandit said, “The officials don’t listen to the pleas of the common man and often, their staff sends them outrageous amounts of electricity bills, sometimes to the tune of Rs1 lakh. On Monday, we went to their office to have a conversation regarding this matter. Police was also present at the spot.”