SAMBALPUR: Sambalpur police busted a duplicate lubricant manufacturing and trading racket here and arrested four persons on Thursday for their involvement in the illegal practice. Police have also seized 780 litres of duplicate lubricants of popular brands, including 457 litres duplicate Servo lubricant, 247 litres duplicate Castrol lubricant, 76 litres Hero lubricant, empty lubricant plastic cans, sealing caps, paper seals, stickers of Castrol, Servo and Hero, hologram, lubricant dye, loose lubricants and mixing drum.
The accused have been identified as Md Yakub alias Dilu (41) of Sunapali, Md Gaus (35) of Sunapali Razanagar and Md Manowar Alam (50) of Khetipada in Motijharan, all under Dhanupali police limits here besides Mahesh Agrawal (49) of Gurudwara Road in Rourkela. Sambalpur SP Sanjeev Arora said they received information from sources that a racket involving manufacturing and trading of duplicate lubricants of renowned brands is operating in the city. Subsequently, Dhanupali police, along with special squad, conducted raids on the houses of Yakub, Gaus and Manowar and seized duplicate lubricants and other materials from their possession, he said.
During investigation, the accused trio confessed that they were procuring the materials and duplicate lubricants from Rourkela, Rajgangpur and Kolkata. They also confessed that they were selling the lubricants as genuine products in the market after packaging the lubricants in plastic cans using forged stickers of renowned lubricant brands, he said.They also revealed the involvement of Mahesh Agrawal of Rourkela in the illegal trade and recently, Mahesh was arrested from Rourklea. Police seized loose lubricants from the possession of Mahesh, he said.
Arora said the racket had been operating here for the last one year. They have also intimated the officials of the respective lubricant companies to verify whether anyone is selling duplicate lubricant in the city.
The accused have been arrested under Sections 468, 471, 420, 120B of IPC and 103, 104 of Trade Mark Act. A case has been registered and further investigation is on.