Berhampur: Police busted a spurious ghee manufacturing unit and arrested one person in Berhampur of Odisha’s Ganjam district on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, Badabazar police carried out raid on the ghee manufacturing unit at Madhab Nagar in the city. During the raid, they seized huge raw materials and tools used for production and packaging of the spurious ghee.
The police also arrested Epari Rajeswar Patra in this connection. Epari along with his brother and others were manufacturing Sri Maa Durga Ghee by using different waste materials such as burnt oil, burnt petroleum lubricant (mobil), low grade palm oil and dangerous chemicals. They were using sophisticated automatic packaging machines to pack the ghee.
The seized items included 10,200 pouches of 200 ml each stored in 102 cartons, 3 automatic ghee packaging machines, 91 tin containers of 15 kg each filled with rice bran oil, 100 cartons 15 kg each of Banaspati ghee of Jubilee brand, two big pots containing oil being cooked on gas stoves, three big pots with finished product of ghee which was ready to be packed, a sealing machine, a grinding machine and 1500 empty cartons with mark Sri Maa Durga Burning Oil meant for packing of Durga Ghee.
The police team also seized a certificate of trade licence issued by Berhampur Municipal Corporation in the name of Tara Tarini Suppliers. The licence, issued for trade of edible oil and ghee, was valid till April 1, 2023, according to Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M.
“The trade licence of the company had expired and was not renewed. The date of municipality licence for selling edible oil and ghee has also expired. But the company has been manufacturing duplicate ghee for more than 2 years,” he said.
The company had been selling the spurious ghee in many parts of state and outside targeting poor and illiterate consumers in interior areas. Rajeswar Patra was earlier arrested in ‘Gutkha’ cases registered in Gosaninuagaon police station.
