Pune, August 08: With the arrest of five persons, the Crime Branch of Pune police on Friday claimed to have busted a milk adulteration racket in the city operating from five small rooms in Kondhwa.
Police said the five persons were selling about 5,000 litres of adulterated milk daily for last six months in 15 residential colonies of Kondhwa. Of this, about 700 litres of the milk was supplied to the Corinthian club everyday.
The five suspects are natives of Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh and were residing in Kondhwa, police said. They have been identified as Ramu Narsingh Yadav (32), Vyankat Mallaya Nimngoti (35), Saidul Pulaiyya Middutti (35), Prakash Yadaiya Nimngoti (20) and Suresh Anji Bhandari (19).
Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Anil Kumbhare said the suspects would mix about 200 ml water to a milk packet of one litre. “They would cut the edges of the plastic milk packets with a blade, remove some fresh milk and add water using a funnel. Then they sealed the edges with a burning candle. They also used old milk packets of branded companies like Amul and Chitale,” Kumbhare said.
“The water used for adulteration was not of good quality. They were distributing over 5,000 litres of adulterated milk to about 5,000 houses in residential societies of Kondhwa for the last six months,” Kumbhare added.
Assistant Commissioner (crime) Sangramsinh Nishandar said, “They would buy about 4,000 litres milk from dealers daily around 2 am to which they would add water and increase the quantity to 5,000 litres. The new packets were then sold at the printed cost.”
Acting on a tip off, a team of anti extortion cell of the Crime Branch nabbed the suspects at Siddhartha Nagar area of Kondhwa around 6 am. Police have seized about 5,200 litres of adulterated milk, seven two wheelers and milk packaging equipment from their possession. The equipment included packaging of four brands — 15,000 litres of Chitale (buffalo), 600 litres of Chitale (cow), 1,250 litres of Amul, 1,800 litres of Katraj dairy and 50 litres of Mother Dairy.
Police said Yadav is the kingpin and was earlier booked by Nagpada police in Mumbai for operating a similar milk adulteration racket. A search has been launched for three more accomplices who have fled.
Affected areas
Kausar Bag, Unity Park, Sahil Sarvada, Sukhwani complex, Silver Stone, Bramha Estate, Ashoka Sumit, Ashoka Mews, Nico Hill, Brahma Heritage, Brahma Majestic, Pragati Park and Corinthian club. Deputy Commissioner Kumbhare appealed to the citizens to check the milk packets, particularly the edges. “If the texture of the packet is old, there is a possibility that it has adulterated milk,” he said.
–Agencies