Coimbatore: Ten days after the police raid at the illegal gutka manufacturing unit at Kannampalayam near Sulur, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) cancelled the licence issued to the unit for making betel nut. The unit had been illegally producing gutka for several years,
FSSAI sources said.
Unit owner Amit Jain and his father Lal Jain had converted a textile mill, which they bought in 2010 for several crores of rupees, into the unit. Gutka made there was sold across the state.
The unit was closed when the state government banned the manufacture and sale of gutka in 2012. However, Amit Jain obtained licence from FSSAI in 2013 to manufacture sweet betel nut and illegally manufactured gutka there. The product, under the brand name VIP, was sent to Madurai for distribution across the state.
A special police team is camping in Madurai to arrest the gutka seller, who is absconding.