Sambhal: Amid communal tensions after the death of four civilians during the survey of Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal last month, a team of the state electricity department installed a smart meter at the house of Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq over suspicion of “electricity theft”.
Barq has been critical of the Yogi Adityanath led BJP government over its alleged crackdown on Muslims in the state.
On Thursday morning, a team of power department officials reached the residence of SP MP Ziaur Rahman Barq amid a tight security cover by RPF, PAC and local police personnel. The team installed a smart electricity meter at the MP's house after removing the old meter two days ago on suspicion of power theft. The team checked the reading of the smart meter installed at the MP's house.
The team was led by Executive Engineer of Electricity Department Naveen Kumar Gautam, City SDO Santosh Tripathi along with other civil and police officials. ASP Shreesh Chandra, CO Asmoli Alok Kumar Sidhu, PAC and RAF personnel were also present with them for security purposes.
Apart from the electricity meter, the officials of the electricity department also checked the power appliances at the MP's house, XEN Naveen Gautam said. The department had suspected irregularities in both the old meters installed at the SP MP's house. It was claimed that stolen electricity was being used in the house as both the meters were showing zero
On the other hand, the SP MP's advocate Qasim Jamal said that a10 kilowatt solar plant is installed at his client's house which is the only power source at the house.
“This is the reason the electricity bill of the house is zero. The SP MP pays the monthly charge for electricity,” Jamal said.
Four civilians were killed on November 24 during the survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal which the Hindu side claims stands at a pre-existing Harihar temple.
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