Officer dies in bid to escape mob

New Delhi: A BSES engineer died and four others were injured as their car rammed into a tree while escaping a mob during a power theft checking drive in southwest Delhi’s Jaffarpur Kalan area, said a BSES spokesperson.

The police, however, said that the BSES engineer died during an accident suspected to have occurred due to “rash driving” and a further probe is on.

Three teams of the BSES on Monday afternoon raided Jhul Jhuli village in Jaffarpur Kalan after a tip off regarding a large scale power theft. The teams accompanied by a Delhi police personnel had to retreat after they came under a vicious attack, said a BSES spokesperson.

“The teams were chased by motorcycle-borne goons. In the ensuing mêlee, one of the cars of the teams rammed into a tree. One of the five occupants, assistant engineer Abhimanyu Singh succumbed to his injuries,” said the spokesperson.

The police said that the injured Bhim Singh,27, Yogender, 25, Saurakh, 24, and Irfan, 22, were referred to DDU hospital for further treatment.

A senior police officer claimed that the BSES teams were provided with adequate police force for the raid that went “successfully”.

“Twenty six police personnel were accompanying the BSES teams. The anti-power theft was successful and one of the cars met with an accident. No one was being chased as per initial reports,” said the officer.

In June this year, a Delhi police sub inspector and three BSES employees were injured due to stone pelting by locals during an anti power theft drive in outer Delhi’s Ranhola area.

“These are not isolated incidents. Efforts of discom teams to check the irregularities are often thwarted by law-defying people who function like organised gangs. Power theft has taken the shape of organised crime and active police support is needed to curb this menace,” said the BSES spokesperson.

Despite intensive efforts to reduce power theft, Jaffarpur continues to have losses of around 60 percent, he said.

In the last five years, around 14000 cases of power theft having a connected load of around 33000 KW have been unearthed in the area, he added.