Bhubaneswar: A special squad of Commissionerate Police Tuesday claimed to have busted a fake sauce manufacturing unit near Bhimatangi area here and arrested three persons in this connection. ACP Himanshu Bhusan Swain said, “At least 1,000 sauce bottles have been seized from the factory while three people have been rounded up in this connection.” The accused have been identified as Rabindra Biswal, 52, Ashok Kumar Behera, 42, and Dilip Swain, 44, he said, adding that the owner of the manufacturing unit, Iswar Sahoo, is at large. Swain said the officials swung into action following a tip-off by a local. Besides, a few other sauce manufacturing units are under the scanner of the police as they were reportedly supplying fake sauces to several food joints in City.
A senior official, who was part of the special squad, said huge quantities of corn starch, artificial flavour and hazardous synthetic products were seized during the raid. Several items used for industrial purposes were also seized. During the raid, it was found that the sauce was being prepared in an unhygienic environment, she added. Officials added that the unit’s owner sourced a fake manufacturing licence from a third via online instead of obtaining it from the civic body
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP