The pen unit of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carried out raids at four pan shops and seized banned Gutkaha. According to an official from FDA, banned gutkha, pan masala, and tobacco products worth more than Rs 13,000 were recovered.
While three of the four shops were located in sector 1, one shop is located in sector 5 of the Kalamboli node, Navi Mumbai. Based on the information received, officials from the Food and Drug Administration carried out raids at all four pan shops and seized banned Gutkha. All four shop owners have also been booked.
The shop owners were identified as Arvind Kumar Dubey, Ballu Raj Bahadur Chaurasia, Rajendra Chavan, and Anantlal Gupta.
According to officials, they were selling gutkha, pan masala, and flavoured betel nuts from these pan shops. When the FDA team questioned them about the purchase bills and the suppliers of these banned products, they gave vague answers, following which a case against all four was registered by the FDA at Kalamboli police station under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act.