As reported by PTI on March 27, 2010
A tip off by mayor Shraddha Jadhav helped the police seize an illegally stored gutkha consignment worth Rs16.5 lakh at Shivaji Nagar in Govandi.
Jadhav had received information about the gutkha consignment being stored in godowns at Shivaji Nagar, without the payment of octroi duty. On basis of this information, the mayor alerted the vigilance department officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), who along with the police conducted the raids.
The officials seized several gunny bags filled with gutkha packets of the Raj Kolhapuri brand from the two godowns that were raided. According to police, the gutkha is suspected to be of duplicate quality and even the stockist has allegedly evaded octroi duty on it.
“We were informed by officials from the vigilance department of BMC that two godowns in our locality had stocked duplicate gutkha. Accordingly, a raid was conducted along with the vigilance department officials. We have seized the gutkha stock and samples have been sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) department for further tests,” a senior police official from the Shivaji Nagar police station said.
The police are now awaiting reports from the FDA before deciding on the further course of action to be taken against the stockist.
