Uttar Pradesh police have busted a racket involving an adulterated ghee manufacturing unit in Khandauli area of Agra where animal fat, horns, hooves and bones were being used to make ghee. Police raided the factory at night and recovered more than 100 kgs of counterfeit ghee along with animal bones, horns and hooves. Apart from this, many other types of chemicals were also recovered from the factory, which was purportedly used to convert the animal fat into ghee.
According to reports, an illegal slaughterhouse was also operating adjacent to this particular factory. While two people fled during the raid, the police managed to nab 4 others namely Shafi, Irshad, Tahir and Chand Babu, the owner of the factory. Police have sealed the factory and a case has been registered against the accused.
On receiving the information, officials of the Food Safety Department reached the spot and collected samples of the Ghee which was being made in the factory for investigation. Based on the information provided by the Food Safety Officer Tribhuvan Singh, UP police have lodged an FIR against the 6 accused and booked them under IPC Section 420 (cheating), 272-273 (adulteration of food or beverages for sale) and section 26 (unsafe-contaminated-sub-standard food) of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
The counterfeit ghee was produced at Rs 23 per kg and sold in the retail market for Rs 200 per kg
The arrested accused confessed to the UP police that the business of making adulterated ghee out of animal fat was going on in the factory for a very long time. Explaining the entire process, the accused said that they first boiled the fat of the animals on high flame and then mixed it with an equal quantity of refined oil. After this process, an essence was put into the mixture, to give it the aroma of ghee.
The accused confessed of procuring animal fat at Rs 18 per kg. The total cost incurred to produce this counterfeit ghee amounted to nearly Rs 23 per kg, which the accused sold to retail traders for Rs 60 per kg. The traders, in turn, mixed this adulterated ghee with Dalda and sold it in the market for 200 per kg. The factory has been sealed after the raid.
