TIRUCHY: The Edamalaipatti Pudur police arrested four persons, including a school noon meal organiser and a hotel owner, on charges of stealing eggs supplied by the government under the scheme and selling them to a hotel.
The arrested persons are R Raghuraman (43), his wife Sathya (43), hotel owner S Jernathul Kubra (61) from Krishnaveni Nagar in Chettiyapatti and his sister A Salma (67) from Beema Nagar.
Raghuraman from Bharathi Min Nagar in Edamalaipatti Pudur, is an egg supply sub-contractor, while his wife Sathya works as a noon meal organiser at an anganwadi in KK Nagar
Raghuraman, who distributes eggs to anganwadis in the Manikandam block under the government’s noon meal scheme, allegedly stole the eggs and, with the help of his wife, stored them at his house and sold them at low prices to nearby hotels.
The food safety and drugs administration department received a tip-off on Saturday about noon meal eggs being used in a private hotel in E Pudur. Upon inspection, officials found the hotel using eggs with the seals removed and questioned the staff about their source.
The probe revealed that Raghuraman and Sathya sold noon meal eggs at a low price to the hotel. Following a complaint by Food Safety Officer A Ponraj (46), E Pudur police arrested Raghuraman, his wife Sathya, hotel owner S Jernathul Kubra, and her sister A Salma (67).
The hotel was sealed, and 60 noon meal eggs were seized from the hotel, along with 1,000 eggs from Raghuraman’s house. Recently, a noon meal organiser and a hotel owner in Thuraiyur were also arrested for misusing eggs meant for school children.