Two people running an engineering unit in Maharashtra's Thane district were found guilty of electricity theft and sentenced to two years in jail by a local court.
District Judge P P Jadhav imposed a fine of Rs 35.85 lakh on unit owner Khalil Ahmed Navabali Subhedar and Rs 5.97 lakh on unit operator Anis Ahmed Shafiq Ahmad Khan.
Additional Public Prosecutor Vivek Kadu said the power theft at the unit came to light following a raid by a team of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board on December 28, 2010.
He said a foreign electronic circuit was installed in the meter to suppress the readings between March 2009 and November 2010 and this had led to power theft of 2.18 lakh units valued at Rs 20.91 lakh.
A case was registered under Sections 135 and 138 of the Electricity Act, the additional public prosecutor.