MUMBAI: The crime branch arrested two owners of a garment manufacturing unit who sold duplicate jeans and T-shirts of branded companies. For more profit, the accused started a YouTube channel, made a WhatsApp group for potential buyers, created a Facebook account and also advertised their garments on Instagram.
The accused told the police that during the lockdown, demand for online shopping had increased, which is why they thought of expanding their business through social media. A police team raided the unit in Malad (east). Shop owners-Rahim Shaikh (34) and Hasaratali Chaudhari (38)-were handed over to the local police. The clothes seized are worth over Rs 21.4 lakh.
The team led by joint police commissioner Niket Kaushik received information about the duplicate garments being manufactured at Malad, and being sold online and via a showroom. "We first sent our man to buy some clothes. The purchased jeans and T-shirts had top brand labels. We called the brand representatives to our office to verify the authenticity. The representatives told us that it was not original. We then planned to raid the manufacturing unit in Kurar area, Dindoshi," said an officer.
Retail outlet shops also bought clothes at a discount from these illegal suppliers. Levi's jeans representative Santosh Nalekar lodged the complaint with the Kurar police for cheating and other sections of the Copyright Act.