Mumbai (PTI): Adani Group on Thursday bagged two contracts worth Rs 13,888 crore from a state-owned discom to install smart meters.

A total of six tenders were awarded by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) to install smart meters, of which two have been bagged by the Adani Group, according to an official communiqu from the discom seen by PTI.

The diversified group, which has a sizeable presence in the power sector and had recently won a Rs 1,000 crore contract to install smart meters in the area serviced by BEST Undertaking in Mumbai, will act as an advanced metering infrastructure service provider for smart prepaid metering in MSEDCL, it said.

The two zones awarded to Adani include Bhandup, Kalyan and Konkan having 63.44 lakh meters, and Baramati and Pune having 52.45 lakh meters, it said.

Letter of Awards have been issued to the successful firms, as per the communiqu .

Officials from Adani Group were not immediately available for comment.

The group's transmission arm Adani Energy Solutions, which was earlier known as Adani Transmission, is active in the smart meter segment.

According to sources in the know, with these wins, Adani Group will emerge as the largest smart meter supplier in the country, commanding a 30 per cent share of the market. It has already won contracts to install such meters in four to five states.

Other entities which have also been awarded with orders include NCC in two zones. Two entities -- Montecarlo and Genus -- have won one contract each.

NCC has been awarded the contracts for two zones, namely Nashik and Jalgaon (28.86 lakh meters for Rs 3,461 crore) and Latur, Nanded and Aurangabad (27.77 lakh meters for Rs 3,330 crore).

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Indore (PTI): The classmate of a 24-year-old female MBA student, arrested in Indore for her murder, allegedly abused the body after the killing and also performed occult rituals while on the run, police said.

On February 13, people complained of a foul smell emanating from a closed house in the city's Dwarkapuri police station area.

After police arrived at the scene, the naked body of a 24-year-old woman was found in the house.

The woman was pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from a city college and the body was found in her classmate's rented house, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shrikrishna Lalchandani told PTI on Monday.

The classmate fled after the incident. He was taken into custody in Mumbai and is being interrogated after his arrest, the official said.

Referring to the accused's interrogation, the official said he allegedly strangled his classmate to death and then "abused" the body.

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"The accused also performed witchcraft near Panvel (in Navi Mumbai) while on the run. The accused claims that he was mentally disturbed after the murder and wanted to communicate with the woman's spirit through witchcraft," he said.

According to the DCP, the woman and the accused were in a close relationship.

"The accused suspected that she was talking to other men. Enraged, he killed her and fled," the official said.

After the woman's body was found, her father accused the classmate of trying to extort money from his daughter using her obscene photos and then torturing her to death.

The accused had even posted these photos on her college WhatsApp group, he alleged.