Chakan Police registers FIR as gang impersonating MSEDCL employees dupe customers

By: Pune Pulse

September 19, 2023

Pune: An incident has come to light wherein a gang in Chakan has been apprehended for impersonating employees of Mahavitaran and causing significant financial losses to both Mahavitaran and its customers. The gang would approach customers directly and falsely claim that their electricity meter needed to be replaced, demanding payment for the service. An FIR has been registered against four individuals in this regard at the Chakan police station.

As per the information provided, rumors were circulating in certain areas of Chakan that Mahavitaran was deceiving its customers by sending fake employees to replace their electricity meters. They would inform customers that their meter was slow and that they would receive a high bill as a result. It has been reported that these individuals would extort money from customers, remove old meters from public distribution, and replace them with meters purchased from the market. Customers were threatened with electricity supply interruptions if they did not comply.

Upon receiving this information, Rajendra Pawar, Chief Engineer, took immediate action. Under his guidance, Yuvraj Jarag, Superintendent Engineer of Pune Gramin Mandal, Rajendra Yedke, Executive Engineer of Rajgurunagar Division, Vijay Gargote, Deputy Executive Engineer of Chakan, and Avinash Sawant, Assistant Engineer, along with their staff, began investigating suspicious electricity meters.

Later, it was discovered that some customers in the Nanekarwadi, Ambethan Road, and Manik Chowk areas of Chakan had changed their electricity meters without registering the change with Mahavitran or returning the old meters. Further investigation revealed that the accused, Dayanand Pattekar, who had changed the meters, was associated with Alamdad Computer Agency, which was responsible for meter readings. Pattekar and three other individuals, who claimed to be employees of the Bharari team, were found to be involved in the scam. Mahavitran urged all customers to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.

Rajendra Pawar, Chief Engineer, MSEDCL, informed, ”Posing a decrease in electricity consumption as indicated by the meter, either by replacing the meter with a slower one or by reducing the amount of the electricity bill. Furthermore, refrain from providing any response if impersonating an employee of MSEDCL or any other private individual soliciting payment from electricity consumers.”

Madhupriya Dhanwate