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Substandard sanitiser sale racket busted, six arrested
Pune Substandard hand sanitisers worth Rs 27 lakh, which were being sold under the product name ‘Savior Hand Sanitiser’ has been seized by the police on Tuesday.
Pune Substandard hand sanitisers worth Rs 27 lakh, which were being sold under the product name ‘Savior Hand Sanitiser’ has been seized by the police on Tuesday.
The police have arrested six people including the manufacturer and the distributor.
The six men have been identified as Kunal alias Sonu Shantilal Jain, 33, a pharmacist living in Kondhwa; Chetan Madhav Bhoi, 26; Irfan Iqbal Shaikh, 32; Aseem Arif Maniyar, 27; all residents of Kondhwa; Swapnil Shivaji Shinde, 31, a resident of Sadashiv peth, and Mahesh Ramchandra Tembekar, 31, a resident of Satara road.
Jain, Bhoi, Shaikh and Maniyar are accused of selling the sanitisers while Shinde and Tembekar were the brains behind the operation.
“The accused were making these sanitisers without license and labelling them ‘made in Nepal’, ‘made in Taiwan’. Further investigation is being done by Unit 5 of crime branch. Citizens are requested to share information regarding sale of spurious products to police,” said Bachchan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pune.
SC Tasgaonkar. assistant police inspector, Unit 5 of Pune police crime branch who is heading the investigation said, “They do not have any permits required for production and distribution. Swapnil Shinde assembled the products at his property in Alankar police jurisdiction. Tembekar distributed the product to medical suppliers. We first arrested a pharmacist and backtracked the investigation.”
A case under Sections 276 (sale of drug as a different drug or preparation), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 420 (cheating), and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Sections 18-A, 18(c), 22(1)(cca) with 28, 27(b)(ii), 27(d) of Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 1940 has been registered at Market Yard police station against the six.
