NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted an alleged food tampering syndicate operating from an industrial unit in southeast Delhi’s Okhla area. Officials have arrested seven people, including the company owner.Police seized expired international branded food products worth over Rs 20 lakh that were allegedly repackaged and sold after altering their manufacturing and expiry dates, news agency PTI reported.According to deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Hemant Tiwari, the accused procured near-expiry and expired food products of reputed brands at throwaway prices, erased the original manufacturing and expiry dates using chemicals, printed fresh dates on the packaging, and reintroduced the products into the market through retail outlets and e-commerce platforms across the country.The arrested have been identified as company owner Darshan Singh Sachdeva, 70, manager Nitesh Bhardwaj, 38, accountant Narender Kumar, 42, operator Kapil, 34, warehouse keeper Lucky Ojha, 45, and supervisors Prem Yadav, 33, and Pawan Kumar Yadav, 32.“The racket was unearthed during a joint inspection of police, along with officials from the office of the sub-divisional magistrate (Badarpur), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and NGO Mission Mukti Foundation at a private company located in Okhla Phase-II,” the DCP said.The raid was initially conducted following a tip-off about the alleged employment of child labourers at the unit.While no child labourers were found, officials detected a large-scale counterfeit operation catering to domestic and international markets, PTI reported.During the search, teams recovered large quantities of tampered food and beverage products, including Thums Up, Fanta, Bournvita, Horlicks, Maggi noodles, ghee, Paper Boat juices, two-litre soft drink bottles, beverage cans and other packaged food items.Police also seized printing machines, sealing equipment, date-modification machinery, chemicals allegedly used to erase original markings, fake nutrition labels, counterfeit barcodes, batch labels and MRP stickers.“During interrogation, the accused admitted that they sourced expired or near-expiry products at heavily discounted prices and fraudulently extended their shelf life to maximise profits,” the officer said.Police said the repackaged products were supplied in bulk to markets, retail outlets, shopping malls and online platforms across India, potentially exposing consumers to expired food items.An investigation in this regard is currently underway, officials said.(With agency inputs)
