The Thane Police in Maharashtra have registered a case against 12 persons on charges of electricity theft of more than Rs 12 lakh in the district, the officials said on Monday, reported the PTI.

They said that the officials of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) conducted inspections in Kongaon area of Bhiwandi on Saturday and found several consumers had tampered with the power supply lines. Many of them were found to have bypassed the electricity meters to draw power directly from wires connected to the electric poles, an official from Shanti Nagar police station said, according to the PTI.