Fake ghee producing unit busted in Berhampur

Berhampur: Badabazar police busted a spurious ghee manufacturing unit at Madhab Nagar in Berhampur and arrested Epari Rajeswar Patra. They seized raw materials and tools used in the racket.

Rajeswar Patra, his brother and a few others were manufacturing Sri Maa Durga Ghee by using waste materials such as burnt oil, burnt mobil, low grade palm oil and low grade palmolein oil by adding hazardous chemicals.

They were using sophisticated automatic packaging machines to pack ghee packets. The ghee packets were having no trade licence mark, no manufacturing date and no expiry date. The owner of the company had been selling spurious ghee across the State and outside targeting poor and illiterate people who cannot read English. They reportedly consumed the non-edible ghee which is injurious to health.

Their trade licence had also expired. The permission for the company is for selling edible oil and ghee as per Municipality Licence which had also expired. But the company had been manufacturing spurious ghee for more than two years.

Rajeswar Patra was also arrested earlier and forwarded to court in gutkha cases. A case has been registered against the accused for cheating, adulteration of food and sale of noxious food, police said.