Thane: In yet another raid, gutkha worth ₹2.75 crore was seized from a godown in Kharbaon village of Bhiwandi taluka on Thursday. The seized gutkha was dumped in a pit and destroyed.
On receiving information about the gutkha stored in a godown in Kharbaon village, officers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alerted the local police and raided the premises.
Accordingly, Bhiwandi taluka police and FDA officers Manik Jadhav and Shankar Rathod conducted a joint raid on Thursday night at the godown in Kharbaon village, Bhiwandi Kaman-Vasai road and seized gutkha, including Ranivas masala and Shikhar pan masala worth Rs2.75 crore.
“The sale and consumption of gutkha and pan masala was banned in Maharashtra in the year 2012.
The godown had stored a big quantity of gutkha and was supplying it to shops across Bhiwandi, Thane and Kalyan,” said Sachin Kulkarni, assistant police inspector, Bhiwandi taluka station.
In the raid, Amar Bahadur Ram Saroj was arrested under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act, along with sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc, with intent to commit an offence), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, said the ACP.
“We are probing as to how many people are involved in the matter. Further investigation is on,” said the cop.
