CUTTACK: Commissionerate Police on Friday busted a fake soft drink manufacturing unit operating in a clandestine manner at Jagatpur. Acting on a tip off, a police team led by ACP SN Muduli raided the bottling plant behind a hotel along the main road. “We informed the CMC and food safety officer. Around 3,000 bottles of finished product, bottling and grinding machines, raw materials, huge number of logos and labels of a reputed soft drink company were seized,” said Muduli.
The owner of the unit, Jitendra Sahu of Jagatpur, was arrested. Muduli said Sahu was illegally manufacturing and selling counterfeit soft drinks for the last around four months. CMC’s food safety officer Pratikshya Das Mohapatra said the accused had obtained food licence for operating the unit at Taral but was running the same at Jagatpur.
“Soft drinks were being manufactured using sugar, unhygienic water, chemicals and essence without guidance of experts. We have collected the samples and sent those to laboratory for testing,” Das Mohapatra added.