Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal, Zia ur Rahman Barq was booked by police for power theft on Thursday. It has been alleged that one of the two electricity meters installed at Barq's residence showed zero power consumption for six months despite being functional.
The registration of FIR comes just hours after a team of officials from the state electricity department visited Barq's residence and checked the meters and electrical equipments used in the house.
The FIR against the Lok Sabha MP has been registered under section 135 of the Indian Electricity Act (Amendment) 2003 at Anti-Power Theft Police Station on charges of meter tampering.
The electricity department official also alleged that Barq's father threatened them when they went for the checking saying he would look after this when his government came into power.
According to the officials, one of the two meters installed at Barq's residence showed zero power consumption while the load was over 5 kilowatts.
Two LED lights on the first floor accounted for 65 watts of consumption while a fan used 45 watts of electricity, as per the officials.
"State Electricity Department has filed an FIR regarding electricity theft (against Zia ur Rehman Barq)...The department has also informed that during the checking at the residence (of Zia ur Rehman Barq), his father made a threat to a member of the team," said Shirish Chandra, Additional Superintendent of Police, Sambhal.
The police official said evidence is being collected over the claims of a threat after an FIR is lodged and action will be taken. "For now, one FIR has been lodged (regarding electricity theft), and the other (regarding the threat by the father of Zia ur Rehman Barq) will be filed after getting the evidence...," Chandra said.