E-Paper
126kg spurious ghee seized in Ludhiana, auto driver dodges arrest
Was selling the ghee in Verka packets; accused manages to flee when Sarabha Nagar police went to arrest him.
A driver of a pickup auto, who had been booked for delivering adulterated desi ghee in Verka packets at shops in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar on June 23, managed to escape when a team of the Sarabha Nagar police went to arrest him on Thursday, but the police seized 126kg spurious ghee from his vehicle.
The case against the accused, identified as Naib Singh of Sarinh village, was registered on a statement of general manager (GM) of the Verka milk plant in Ludhiana Raj Kumar.
In his complaint, the GM stated that they had received several complaints from the market over the quality of Verka ghee, especially in one-kg packets.
He said, “After receiving complaints, we brought packets of ghee from the market. When checked, we found that adulterants had filled spurious ghee in Verka’s packets. We also came to know that some people had been selling the adulterated ghee to shops in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar.”
On a tip-off on June 23 that a pick-auto driver was supplying Verka ghee packets to shopkeepers in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, deputy manager (marketing) Rakesh Kumar and deputy manager (production) Hanuman Prasad, along with the food safety officer, health department, reached there.
They said, “We found the pick-up auto driver supplying adulterated ghee in Verka packets. So, we reported the matter to the police and lodged an FIR against him.”
Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Pardeep Kumar, investigating the case, said an FIR under Sections 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code was registered against accused Naib Singh.
A hunt is on for the arrest of the accused, he said.
