Finger found in ice cream belonged to injured Pune factory employee, shows DNA report

The employee, 24-year-old Omkar Pote from Pune, had lost the tip of his finger on May 11 while filling ice cream cones at the Fortune Dairy factory in Indapur

MUMBAI: The human finger found by a Malad-based doctor in his ice cream earlier this month belonged to an employee of the ice cream manufacturing unit, the DNA fingerprinting report obtained by the police has revealed.

A 26-year-old doctor from Malad West alleged that he found a severed human finger in his ice cream

The employee, identified as 24-year-old Omkar Pote from Pune, had lost the tip of his finger on May 11 while filling ice cream cones at the Fortune Dairy factory in Indapur in Pune district. The factory manufactures ice creams under the Yummo brand name, said police.

The Malad police had collected Pote’s DNA samples and sent them to the forensic science laboratory in Kalina last week to ascertain if the finger belonged to him. Police had also sent Pote’s blood samples to the laboratory to check if he was suffering from any disease which could pose risks for those who consumed ice creams manufactured in the same batch.

On Thursday, police received the DNA fingerprinting report from Kalina, showing Pote’s samples matched with the finger found in the ice cream. The blood sample reports, on the other hand, showed that Pote did not suffer from any disease which could pose risks for consumers.

“It is negligence on the part of the employee and the supervisors at the factory that they let the contaminated ice cream batch be packed and shipped to consumers,” said Ravi Adane, senior police inspector of Malad police station. “We will send a notice to them (concerned persons at the factory) under section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code as the maximum punishment for sections invoked against them is less than seven years,” he said.

The incident came to light when Brandon Serrao, a Malad West-based MBBS doctor, found a human finger piece in an ice cream cone ordered online on June 12. Following the doctor’s complaint, a case was registered against officials of Yummo ice cream, while the finger was sent to the forensic science laboratory in Kalina. A team from the Malad police station subsequently visited the ice cream factory in Indapur, identified Pote, and collected his DNA and blood samples.

The Fortune Dairy unit in Indapur which manufactured the ice cream was served a stop-work notice by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in the aftermath of the incident, said police.