A Shiv Sena leader and business magnate from Kalyan, Sanjay Gaikwad, who purchased a Rolls Royce car worth Rs 8 crore recently, has been booked by the Kolsewadi police in Kalyan for electricity theft of around Rs 35,000.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint registered against the Shiv Sena leader by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL).
The complaint was registered after the electricity department conducted an inspection at one of the construction sites belonging to the Shiv Sena leader in March this year and found electricity theft there. Following this, a bill of Rs 34,840 was sent to Gaikwad and a penalty of Rs 15,000 was imposed on him. When, even after three months, Gaikwad failed to pay up the total amount and the MSEDCL filed an FIR against him.
According to reports, after the FIR was registered, the Sena leader cleared the bill on July 12. He paid a sum of Rs 49,840, which included Rs 34,840 in bill amount and Rs 15,000 penalty to the power operator. As he cleared the dues after a delay of three months, he denied his involvement in any power theft and accused the state electricity department of filing a false case against him.
“If I have stolen electricity, then why were my meters at the sites not removed?” he asked, adding that every year he pays taxes worth crores of rupees to the government. He alleged that the department registered a case against him in a rush without trying to look into the details. He asked for a fair probe in the matter.
Interestingly, Sanjay Gaikwad is the same person who had drawn flak recently from the Bharatiya Janata Party for his distasteful remarks against the former chief minister (CM) and the incumbent Leader of Opposition (LoP) Devendra Fadnavis. On April 19, Gaikwad had said that he wishes he could ‘stuff coronavirus in the mouth’ of Fadnavis. Following Gaikwad’s remarks, BJP workers had staged protests against him in Buldhana and burnt the MLA’s effigy.