A 33-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly running a salt factory and packaging it in counterfeit packets of a noted brand, in Outer North Delhi’s Barwala. DCP (Outer North) Rajiv Ranjan Singh said the accused has been identified as Mahesh alias Tony, a resident of Barwala.
“The most surprising part of the recovered duplicated salt is that each of the packing was so intelligently printed that if the customer scanned the QR code printed on the duplicate packing, it would lead to the brand’s genuine website,” he said.
The police said that a complaint was received from the brand’s representative stating that a duplicate salt manufacturing unit was running in Shahbad Dairy area. “When a police team raided the factory, huge quantity of duplicate salt and packaging along with other articles were recovered,” Mr. Singh said.
During interrogation, Mahesh allegedly revealed that he had visited a property dealer where he came in contact with one “Master Ji” who was in the business of trading of packaged food items and instigated the accused to start his own business of duplicate salt.
“A year ago, Mahesh started his factory of the duplicate salt in the rented premises situated in Jain Colony in Barwala. The accused used to pack very inferior and cheap quality salt in 1kg duplicated packing of the brand,” the DCP said.
The police said that Mahesh used to purchase the duplicate packing material of the brand from his source in Naya Bazar at the rate of ₹2 per pack of 1 kg. “The accused further revealed that he used to pack only the particular brand because everyone has faith in it and it’s the most selling item,” the officer said.
