A day after The Hindu reported about a worrying 79% of branded and loose milk being adulterated as per a recent study, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Wednesday busted a major milk adulteration racket operating out of Andheri and arrested two people.
According to Crime Branch sources, police constable Ravindra Mane with the Crime Branch Unit VIII received a tip-off that milk was being adulterated with unclean water and supplied to tea stalls and hotels in Andheri. Acting on the information, two teams led by police sub-inspectors Mahesh Togarwad and Deepak Sawant kept a watch on Telugu Chawl in Sahar Village and intercepted two men who were carrying a large consignment of branded milk pouches.
The suspects, Swami Nathi (52) and Satayya Nathi (42), were questioned and allegedly admitted to running the racket. “They would buy one-litre milk pouches produced by brands like Amul and Nandini in large quantities from wholesalers and bring it home, where they would make small openings in the pouches. They would drain out around 100 to 150 millilitres of the contents of each pouch and replace it with tap water mixed with powdered milk. The pouches would then be resealed using candles,” police inspector Ajay Joshi, in-charge of the Unit VIII, said.
Mr. Joshi said this milk would then be sold to tea stalls and hotels in the area. The accused have been supplying the adulterated milk to at least four to five establishments for the last two months. Preliminary inquiries have also established that they only moved into their current residences two months ago, and the police are finding out if they were running the same racket elsewhere prior to this.
The Crime Branch has seized 271 litres of branded milk and also informed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA officers have given a preliminary report certifying the milk seized from the spot as adulterated. The accused have been booked under the Indian Penal Code and the Food Safety and Standards Act.
