Sambhal MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq fined Rs 1.9 crore for alleged electricity theft
The Samajwadi Party legislator’s father was booked for allegedly threatening officials during an inspection at their home.
The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Department fined Sambhal Lok Sabha MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq Rs 1.91 crore for alleged power theft, PTI reported on Friday. The department also disconnected the electricity supply to his residence.
The action came after the police on Thursday registered a case against the Samajwadi Party legislator for alleged electricity theft under Section 135 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
His father, Mamlukur Rehman, was also booked for allegedly threatening officials during an inspection at their home in Deepa Sarai, Sambhal.
“An electricity inspection drive underway in Sambhal even today,” Sambhal Superintending Engineer Vinod Kumar told PTI. “A fine of Rs 1.91 crore has been imposed on the MP by the electricity department and the power supply to his residence has been disconnected.”
Kumar said that the MP’s home had two two-kilowatt connections, one in the name of Zia Ur Rehman and another in his late grandfather’s name.
In the past six months, the meters showed zero unit consumption at the MP’s residence, according to a power department official.
He added that during the inspection on Thursday, a 16.48-kilowatt load was discovered at the MP’s residence. When both electricity meters were sent to the lab for testing, the magnetic resonance imaging test revealed that they had been tampered with.
The first information report says that the inspection at the MP’s home found evidence of electricity theft by bypassing the meter.
In November, Barq was booked for allegedly inciting a mob in Sambhal, resulting in violent clashes that left five people dead.
The police have alleged that the mob attacked officials to disrupt a court-ordered survey at the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on November 24.
Barq denied the allegations, stating he was in Bengaluru at the time of the clashes.
“I was not even in the state, let alone Sambhal,” he had said. “This is a conspiracy by the police and administration.”
He had earlier criticised the survey, stating that the Jama Masjid is a historic site. “The Supreme Court had ruled that religious places as they existed in 1947 must remain unchanged as per the Places of Worship Act, 1991,” he said.
On Thursday, during an inspection at the MP’s home, Barq’s father allegedly verbally abused the engineers and obstructed government work, PTI quoted Superintendent of Police Sambha Krishna Kumar Bishnoi as having alleged.
Rehman told the engineer that “the dispensation will change and we will ruin you”, Bishnoi alleged.
“A case has been registered at the Nakhasa police station against Rehman and two others – Wasim and Salman – under relevant provisions of the law,” Bishnoi added.