While all seven mini-steel plants were found involved in power thefts ranging from Rs 90 lakh to Rs 7 crore, all the 25 functional re-rolling mills of the 32 units in the district, were also found guilty of theft.

Jalna, whose mini-steel plants and re-rolling mills are located the additional MIDC area, is the third largest steel town in the state after Mumbai and Nagpur.

Though power thefts in Jalna's steel units is no secret, the sheer magnitude of the crime has baffled the MSEB, whose officials are amazed at the modus operandi which industrialists have used to steel electricity. The equipment is not only extremely sophisticated but also almost impossible to detect.

``This is the first time in the state that we have come acrosssuch hi-tech equipment deployed for power thefts,'' Balwant Dhongade, deputy engineer, MSEB, Jalna, told The Indian Express. He is also concerned that none of the offenders have been taken into police custody. Without placing the accused in custody, there is no way the industrialists will reveal the names of those who supplied and installed the hi-tech equipment, he said.

Vijaykumar Gupta, chairperson of one of the most influential industry forums in the region, the Jalna Steel Manufacturers Association, told The Indian Express, he had doubts over the tariff that the MSEB officials had calculated at each of the steel plants, but refused to comment on the equipment the officials found during the raids.

He also claimed the raids were conducted following pressure from ``certain ministers'' but refused to name them. ``All I can say at this stage is that the cases will not stand up in court,'' he said. The association will not approach the state government nor any minister.

Today's massivecrackdown was preceded by two other raids, on August 30 and 31. During the first raid, MSEB officials swooped on the premises of the Amar Amit Steel and Alloys Ltd mini-steel plant owned by the Demada brothers at Jalna. This was followed by a raid on another mini-steel plant owned by the same proprietors at Selgaon in Badnapur tehsil of Jalna. The theft detected in these plants collectively amount to Rs 1.2 crore.

All the accused have been charged under Sections 379 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 39 and 44 of the Indian Electricity Act, 1910 (amended 1983).