Hescom officials allege assault by Congress MLC

Two officers of the Hubli Electric Supply Company (Hescom) have alleged that Channaraj Hattiholi, Congress MLC and younger brother of former Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, assaulted them for disconnecting power supply to his follower’s business firm over unpaid power bills.

Following the incident, Hescom staff staged a protest outside the Belagavi APMC Police Station, demanding the registration of an FIR, in Belagavi on Friday. Deepak Kumar, Assistant Executive Engineer, alleged that the MLC summoned him and his section officer, Raju, to his residence in Kuvempu Nagar in Belagavi and abused and assaulted them.

The incident occurred on Friday. “The MLC was angry that the power supply to ‘Lakshmi Stone Crusher’, owned by Pramod Jadhav, a close associate, was disconnected due to outstanding electricity bills of ₹77,360 for three months,” he told reporters.

“We told the MLC that we were merely acting as per the rules and that there was a lot of pressure from senior officials about the recovery of dues and action against defaulters. We asked him to speak to our senior officers to explore a legal solution to the crisis, but he did not listen.

He hit us both,” Mr. Raju said. However, Mr. Hattiholi stated that he merely persuaded them to restore the power connection, assuring them that the consumer would settle all outstanding bills. “I have not assaulted, insulted, or abused anyone,” he said.