Hathras, 01 Aug

(HS): Residents of a village here repelled a bogus raid, overwhelming four men

acting as electricity department vigilance team officers, police said on

Friday. According to investigators, the gang extorted money from villagers

under the premise of checking power theft. The event occurred on July 30 at

Farouli village. According to authorities, the suspects arrived in a Bolero SUV

with government plates, claiming to be part of an official electrical vigilance

campaign. When residents demanded identification, the guys attempted to run,

arousing more suspicion. Locals followed them down, detained them, and informed

the authorities. Police stated they apprehended all four people, who were later

identified as inhabitants of the Sasni neighborhood in Hathras district.

Among them was the

SUV's driver, Praveen Sharma, who had leased the vehicle to the state

electricity department. During interrogation, Sharma said that the raid was

carried out on the orders of a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) from the power

department, and that they were targeting residences with illegal energy connections.

However, the SDO in issue, Om Prakash, denied any participation and stated that

no formal inspection was ordered. The car was privately hired, and I was

unaware of any such activities, the SDO informed reporters. The local power department

has opened an internal investigation.

Executive Engineer Abhinav Tiwari stated that a committee has been

constituted to determine whether any department employees were implicated. Anyone

found culpable would face serious departmental and judicial consequences, he

stated.

Meanwhile,

residents claimed the guys sought payments and threatened punishments. They

said they were from vigilance, but when we requested for ID documents, they

fled. That's when we realized

something was wrong, remarked one resident. According to police, more

arrests may be made depending on the investigation's results.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi