Fake food safety staff arrested

A task force police team here on Sunday arrested four persons, who were conducting raids on hotels as Food Safety Department officials.

They seized fake certificates of the Civil Supplies Corporation, the A.P. Pollution Control Board and the Food Safety Department; rubber stamps, ID cards, a car and ₹4,590 from their possession.

On a tip-off that the impersonators were visiting hotels and collecting money, the task force, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) G. Rajiv Kumar, arrested four persons – Vajjala Srinivas Kumar, Lokam Balaji, Attamui Kiran Kumar, of Vidyadharapuram here and Kaligiti Kiran Kumar - of Tadepalli in Guntur district.

The accused were checking samples of food items and collecting fines by issuing fake receipts.

Srinivas Kumar, who was arrested on the charge earlier by the Vuyyur police, was acting as a food inspector and the remaining were pretending to be attenders and a car driver, the police said.

The Bhavanipuram police the accused into custody.