The police has so far been successful in nabbing just one of the 21 accused, Kishan Palturam Agrawal. One of the directors of the Vaishnodevi Steel and Alloys Plant, Agrawal has been remanded to seven days' police custody.

The case has generated much excitement and curiosity in business circles in Jalna, the accused being some of the biggest players in the field.

Sources in the business community however felt it was ``wrong'' to view the theft as a Rs 20 crore scandal. The amount involved, they claimed, was much higher.

``One must also ascertain whether these industrialists have paid excise duties in proportion to the production they churned out using such massive quantities of electricity,'' they said. ``This again shouldbe reflected in sales tax and income tax figures announced by these plants.''

The figures based on these calculations will reveal that it is actually a scandal totalling nearly Rs 60 crore, the sources said.

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the MSEB crackdown on the steel plants was a result of `system failure', that is, an understanding which existed between the industrialists and some ministers guarding their own interests. The system collapsed the moment Minister of State for Energy Suresh Navale was fired from the ministry a few months ago.