Jamshedpur: A team of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) slapped a penalty of Rs 3.93 crore on a mini steel plant in Adityapur industrial area on Sunday after detecting power theft at the unit.

The authorities of the steel plant, which has an induction furnace, was hooking electricity from a feeder not meant for supplying power to the facility.

JBVNL has registered a case against the management of Shree Krishna Laxmi Udyog on the basis of an FIR lodged by sub-divisional officer (electrical) Namnit Kumar.

Kumar, who was among a 10-member team, said the raid started at 11pm on Saturday and continued till 6am on Sunday.

"We found that power was being hooked from a feeder next to the one meant for supplying electricity to the mini steel plant," Kumar said.

He said during the raid they found the meter of Shree Krishna Laxmi Udyog was idle though production at the palnt was on. A thorough probe led the team to the point from where electricity was being tapped from a 33KV line of another feeder.

"We have seized the cable used in stealing power and the meter. After calculating the revenue loss on account of the theft, we have slapped a penalty of Rs 3.93 crore on Shree Krishna Laxmi Udyog Pvt Ltd," said the SDO (electrical).

He said JBVNL had also snapped the company's connection after unearthing the theft.

Sources in discom revealed that Shree Krishna Laxmi Udyog would tap electricity illegally from 8pm till 5am every day and would produce over 100 tonnes of steel by the stolen power.

For a mini steel plant having an induction furnace, electricity is the main component of production.

There are 18 mini steel plants operating under the Jamshedpur electrical circle, which covers Adityapur industrial area, Mango, Jugsalai and Govindpur.