India, Oct. 5 -- A Pune court acquitted a 29-year-old man in a 17-year-old electricity theft case after the prosecution's own witness admitted during cross-examination that the disputed electricity meter belonged to two other persons and had no connection with the accused.

Special Judge Anilkumar K. Sharma acquitted Laxman alias Nana Pralhad Salunkhe of charges under Sections 135 and 138 of the Electricity Act, 2003, in an order passed on October 1 regarding an alleged electricity theft detected in 2009 at Saswad.

According to the prosecution, testing on July 6, 2009 found that the meter was running 72% slow and an assessment found theft of 1,357 units of electricity. A case was registered, and the chargesheet was filed on March 2, 2010...