Racketeers cashed-in on huge popularity of Nandini ghee

Mysore/Mysuru: The major adulterated Nandini ghee racket flourishing in Mysuru at a rented godown in Hosahundi at the foot of Chamundi Hill near Bandipalya has baffled the Police as well as the officials from the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) whose brand reputation has been cashed-in by criminals.

The racket was busted yesterday and a team of KMF officials and the Police raided the facility and seized tonnes of packed ghee, complete with Nandini logo, hallmark, licence number and even barcode. When held together it is difficult to distinguish between the original and adulterated packet of ghee.

Sources told Star of Mysore that the racket has inter-State ramifications and a major part of the ghee was sent to Tamil Nadu in trucks. Loads were also supplied to many sweetmeat makers of Mysuru, who used to buy the stocks in bulk.

The hugely popular Nandini brand, its health benefits and distinct texture and taste made the racketeers to adulterate the product, said KMF officials. So popular is the original ghee that it is used to make laddu at Tirumala Venkateswara Swamy Temple.

Initial investigation has revealed that the racketeers identify godowns and storage spaces outside cities like they have done in Hosahundi. They later entered into agreements with landlords in benami names and by claiming that they were dealers of genuine Nandini products.

Rent of Rs. 15,000 per month

This godown is located on Survey Number 84/6 and is owned by H.K. Vasanth Kumar and has been taken in the name of one M. Ashwini, wife of B.K. Murugesh of Mahadevapura near Srirampura. As per the rental agreement, Ashwini and Murugesh paid an advance of Rs. 1 lakh and were paying a rent of Rs. 15,000 per month.

This particular godown where the raid took place yesterday had over 20 employees filling up the packets with adulterated ghee made from vegetable oils. Every day, hundreds of packets would be manufactured and the adulterated ghee is also filled into tins that weigh 10 to 15 kgs. Thousands of such tins and cartons containing 1 litre packets have been stored in the godown.

Copy-cat machines

KMF officials and the Police suspect that the racket has been flourishing at Hosahundi since July last and till now they have already supplied ghee worth crores of rupees. Apart from people to manufacture the adulterated product, there were machines to fill the ghee to packets and seal them to make it look original.

Along with huge quantities of vegetable oil, the raiding teams also recovered original Nandini ghee that the criminals had purchased to mix it with low quality edible oil. Senior officials of KMF including Director (Marketing), Quality Controller (Marketing) from Bengaluru reached the godown last evening.

Officials said that though the KMF had adopted hologram and QR code technology to pack their premium products including ghee, the racketeers managed to reproduce them. Meanwhile, Mysuru Milk Union Chairman P.M. Prasanna said that the KMF officials and the Police would unearth the complete racket, supply route and also see if people from other States are involved.

SP R. Chethan said that a case has been booked at Mysuru South Police Station and the hunt was on to nab the kingpin of the racket. Search is on to trace all the employees of the godown and some are already being questioned, he added. Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar has directed the Police and the KMF authorities to get to the root of the racket and restore the faith of people in the Nandini brand.