CUTTACK: Commissionerate Police on Saturday busted a fake tobacco and cosmetics manufacturing unit at Shankarpur Das Sahi in Bishram Nagar under Badambadi police limits in the city and arrested its owner.
The raid was carried out after one Kailash Singh Chauhan of Delhi filed a written complaint on behalf of Shree Flavours LLP (Gopal Group) alleging that one Pravat Kumar Sahoo of Sankarpur Das Sahi was using their brand name ‘Gopal Zarda’ and manufacturing fake and spurious tobacco.
DCP Akhilesvar Singh said acting on the complaint, Badambadi police raided Sahoo’s house and unearthed the fake tobacco manufacturing unit.During the raid, police also came across a fake cosmetic and detergent products such as Fair & Lovely creams, Ujala, Bajaj Almond Oil etc. Police recovered 86 empty 500 gram Gopal Zarda pouches, 15 Gopal Zarda cartoons, 32 empty 500 ml perfume bottles of hemani aroma, 12 hemani aroma perfumes, huge quantity of raw materials used in manufacture of cosmetic products including three barrels of Agaru, 2100 Agaru bottles, Agaru stickers, 820 Fair & Lovely creams and 1030 250 ml Ujala bottles.
Sahoo has been arrested and is being interrogated, the DCP added. Preliminary investigation revealed that fake products were being sold in the name of reputed brands not only in the city, but also in other parts of the state.
The accused was using the duplicate bottles and pouches bearing logos similar to that of different branded companies, sealing and packing those in such a manner that it becomes hard for the consumer to differentiate between the adulterated and the original ones, Singh informed.On December 27 last year, Mangalbag police had busted a fake ghee manufacturing unit at Professorpada Sagadiasahi and arrested Subas Chandra Behera who was also planning to make and sell fake Shalimar coconut oil.
