Owner of gutka unit gets bail

COIMBATORE:

Amit Jain of New Delhi

, the owner of the illegal

gutka

manufacturing unit at Kannampalayam near Sulur that was raided in April, has obtained conditional bail from the Madras high court.

Police sources said that after submitting surety, he will have to appear at the Sulur police station every day until further order from the court. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) officials are also planning to question him in connection with the case.

A special team of the city police had camped in New Delhi for more than a month to nab Amit Jain. But they failed to trace his whereabouts.

Amit Jain had bought a textile mill at Kannampalayam in 2010 and procured machineries to manufacture tobacco products in 2011. After the Tamil Nadu government banned the sales and manufacturing of gutka and other tobacco products, he got the licence to manufacture sweet betel nut from (FSSAI) in 2013. But he manufactured banned tobacco products at the unit and supplied the items across the state in the name of VIP. But police failed to detect the illegal operation for five years. Coimbatore SP Moorthy, who got a tip off in April, had sent a special team to the spot. The police team raided the unit and seized raw materials used for manufacturing gutka. Police also seized 3.24 lakh sachets (648 kg ) of gutka from the unit and 750kg of pan masala.