ROURKELA: Plant Site police on Wednesday arrested two prominent businessmen of Rourkela for allegedly counterfeiting products of Pragati Rice brand.
The accused are Naresh Agarwal (47) of Bisra Dahar Road area and Sanjay Agarwal (55) of Civil Township, both rice wholesalers. The duo was arrested following raids at their warehouses at Dingodena Hotel lane on Tuesday night.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said representatives of the Kolkata-based Pragati Edible Processing (P) Ltd lodged a complaint with Plant Site police alleging violation of trademark and copyright infringement of their rice brand. They accused Naresh and Sanjay of passing off inferior quality rice in the name of Pragati Rice after local packaging.
Based on the complaint, police conducted raids at the warehouses of the accused businessmen, leading to seizure of 398 duplicate Pragati Rice bags. Besides, empty bags with the brand name and logo of Pragati Rice were also seized.
The SP said the accused were arrested on charges of trademark and copyrights violation and cheating. They were produced in court on Wednesday evening.