JUDGMENT :

S.V. PINTO, J.

1. The appeal is filed by the appellant State under Section 378(1)(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 against the judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned and Special Judge and Additional Sessions Judge , Gandhinagar (hereinafter referred to as “the learned Trial Court”) in Special Electricity Case No. 33/2009 on 31.05.2012, whereby, the learned Trial Court has acquitted the respondent for the offence punishable under Section 135(1)(a) of The Indian ELECTRICITY ACT , 2003.

1.1 The respondent is hereinafter referred to as “the accused” as he stood in the original case for the sake of convenience, clarity and brevity.

2. The brief facts that emerge from the record of the case are as under:

2.1 The complainant - Arunkumar Natwarlal Sheth was working as Deputy Engineer, UGVCL Mansa Sub Division and on 17.06.2009, Junior Engineer – J. A. Damor along with helpers T. N. Rathore, K. A. Damore, B. B. Patel, K. J. Thakore and P. S. Asari had gone for checking the electricity connections in Mansa Sub Division. The accused was not a consumer of electricity of UGVCL but had directly taken a connection from the LT Line with a 2.5 mm yellow color 25 met