The Delhi Police on Sunday recovered over 15 tonnes of adulterated spices from two large-scale manufacturing units at North East Delhi’s Karawal Nagar.
The two accused have been identified as Dilip Singh, alias Bunty, and Khursheed Malik. Both had started their manufacturing units, making adulterated spices with the use of banned items, as demarcated by the Department of Food and Safety.
According to the police, Singh was the owner of the manufacturing unit, while Malik was the supplier of the adulterated spices. Both of the accused were caught when they tried to flee after seeing the police officials at the unit.
During the inspection, it was revealed that multiple banned and inedible raw materials were procured including rotten rice, rotten coconuts, Eucalyptus leaves, rotten berries, wood dust, citric acid, bran, dry chilli heads, and food colour, which were ratified by food and safety department.
Multiple samples of adulterated spices including turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder and amchoor powder have been retrieved for further tests.
According to the police, the accused were supplying vendors at Sadar Bazaar, Khari Bawli, Pul Mithai and other markets, where the original spices were being kept aside for the fake. The adulterated spices were packed in the packages of the original brands.
A senior police official added that Singh had been running the processing unit since 2021 when he had started with a friend, however, later in 2023, he had to start operating it alone. Moreover, it was also revealed during the interrogation that he was not the only person operating in Karawal Nagar. Another accused was nabbed operating a processing unit, identified as Sarfaraj.
Presently, the development comes on the back of the United States customs department rejecting 31 per cent of MDH’s spice shipments over salmonella concerns, while Singapore and Hong Kong halted the shipment over concerns of carcinogenic ingredients in both MDH and Everest spices.