The court affirmed the conviction for electricity theft based on credible evidence despite the defendant's claims of procedural impropriety.

1. The judgment, dated 23.07.2010 in S.C.No.1 of 2010, on the file Special Judge for Trial of Offences under Indian Electricity Act (I Additional Sessions Judge), Guntur ("Special Judge" for short), is under challenge in the present appeal filed by the appellant. The unsuccessful accused in S.C.No.1 of 2010 who faced charges under S.135 and S.138(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003 against whom conviction was recorded under S.135(b) of the , filed the present appeal.

2. The parties to this appeal will hereinafter be referred to as described before the learned Special Judge for the sake of convenience.

3. The case of the prosecution, in brief as set out in the charge sheet filed in Crime No.1084 of 2009 of Anti Power Theft Squad Police Station, Guntur, is as follows:
(i) On 28.05.2009 at 1-20 p.m., L.W.1 - K. Venkata Krishna, Divisional Engineer, D.P.E., Guntur, along with L.W.2 - V. Hari Kiran, Assistant Engineer, DPE - 2, Guntur, L.W.3 - N.M. Prasad, Assistant Engineer, DPE - 1, Guntur and L.W.4 - B. Srinivasa Rao, Lineman, Operation, Ponnur Town Section, inspected service connection of SC No.4547, Cat.I at Bhavanagar Colony, Ponnur Town. The accused is the registered consumer of the said service connection. He was present in the house at the time of inspection. At the time of inspection, it was found that the accused was utilizing power supply. He extended neutral through a black coloured and white coloured multi - strand aluminum wire through the controls of 3 - phase 100 Amps (APSEB material), single phase 32 Amps (Starex make), single phase 10 Amps (Goldmedal make). A changeover two way switch (Rainbow make) is provided on the cement rack in the left side bedroom of the accused. The accused bypassed the meter and committed pilferage of energy. The connected load was 3,815 Watts at the time of inspection. According to the instructions of L.W.1, L.W.2 prepared the inspection notes and obtained the signature of the accused. L.W.1 forwarded the inspection notes and inspection report to the Station House Officer, APTS Police Station, Guntur. Basing on which, Crime No.1084 of 2009 under S.135 and S.138 of the Electricity Act, 2003 was registered and investigated into.
(ii) L.W.7 - K.Surya Prakash, ADE, Operation, Ponnur, issued a provisional Assessment Notice on 08.06.2009 to the accused estimating the theft of energy as Rs.51,928/-. Though there is a provision for getting the case compounded as a first case, but investigation revealed that already Crime No.1144 of 2008 under S.135 and S.138 of the was registered against the accused on 19.05.2008 at 10-30 a.m. in the APTS Police Station, Ponnur Town and it was compounded. As the accused committed the second offence, he is not entitled for compounding the offence against him. During the course of investigation, it is revealed that the accused committed the second offence pilferage of electrical energy in his house at D.No.1-2-32 - A at Bhavanagar Colony, Ponnur Town. Accused committed such an act bypassing the meter. During investigation, accused surrendered before the Court of Additional Junior Civil Judge, Ponnur on 01.09.2009 and got bail. Hence, the charge sheet.

4. The learned Special Judge took cognizance under the above provisions of law and after appearance of the accused, copies of documents were furnished. Thereafter, the learned Special Judge framed charges under S.135 and S.138(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003 and explained the same to the accused in Telugu, for which he pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

5. To bring home the guilt against the accused, the prosecution before the learned Special Judge