Power firm guard killed by villagers during drive against defaulters in Thane

By PTI
THANE: A security guard of a private power supply company was killed allegedly by a group of villagers here in Maharashtra during a drive against electricity bill payment defaulters, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Saturday in Katai area of Kaneri village under Bhiwandi township when the victim, Tukaram Pawar, along with other staff of the power firm went there to take action against those who had not paid their electricity bills, an official from Nizampura police station said.

A group of 10-15 villagers allegedly beat up the power firm staffers severely and prevented them from cutting their electricity supply, he said.

Pawar received severe injuries in the attack.

He was rushed to the IGM Hospital in Bhiwandi where doctors declared him brought dead, the official said.

The Nizampura police sent the body for postmortem and have so far registered a case of accidental death.

The police official said they were waiting for the postmortem report to take further action into the case.

Meanwhile, the victim’s son alleged lapses on part of the power company, leading to his father’s death.

However, the power firm’s public relations officer Chetan Bijlani told reporters that it was a usual drive against defaulters, hence police protection was not sought for it.

“In case of special drives, we seek police protection,” he said.