Haridwar cops bust gang making fake cosmetics

HARIDWAR: Special Operation Group (SOG) of Haridwar police has busted a gang which was allegedly involved in manufacturing duplicate cosmetics of well known brands in the district for years.
“We are registering a case today (Thursday) on a complaint from Hindustan Unilever under different sections of the Copyright Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Sidcul (Haridwar) police station.Whatever material we have seized from the accused during our raid was used by them for duplicating branded cosmetics,” circle officer (SOG) Rajesh Bhatt told TOI.
The SOG team, led by sub inspector Narendra Singh Bisht, had raided a house at Khelpur village in Bhagwanpur block on Wednesday and recovered packaging wrappers, unfilled tubes and a processing machine from there besides nabbing one Nitoo of Ranipur locality in Haridwar.
Nitoo reportedly worked as a driver in the Sidcul-based unit of Hindustan Unilever. “He was a driver there till 2011. He has amassed a fortune after quitting his job. We are still investigating the case to arrest other culprits,” said circle officer Bhatt.
“Packaging material and unfilled tubes of various cosmetic products like Fair & Lovely face cream of Hindustan Unilever company were found in the house. Accused used to purchase substandard cream material from Delhi and fill the same through a process machine in unfilled tubes and then sell it through their agents in the rural markets of Saharanpur and other districts of Uttar Pradesh,” said SI Bisht.
Police success in busting this gang came after the Himalaya herbal products company’s Baddi-based industrial unit in Himachal Pradesh approached the state police in Dehradun with a complaint that their products were being duplicated in Uttarakhand and sold to different markets, said Bhatt.
It was while probing a case of stolen cosmetics that the Haridwar police received a tip off that one Sanjiv from Brahampuri locality in Haridwar, who hails from Nagal town of Saharanpur district in UP, dealt in the business of duplicate cosmetics. “During interrogation, he confessed he used to produce duplicate face wash of Himalaya company with the help of a gang involved in manufacturing duplicate cosmetic products. We have arrested him on Monday,” said Bisht.
The modus operandi of gang was to purchase a substandard cream and get printed packaging material and tubes from the grey market of Delhi. Then, they filled the cream through a processing machine into new tubes for sale in rural markets.