Sealed paneer goes missing, food safety official, shop owner booked

Patiala, November 18

The police booked an owner of RK Chilling Centre and a food safety officer for allegedly conniving and misusing “substandard” paneer sealed by health authorities.

A case under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, has been registered against Rajinder Kumar, the owner of the centre, and Sandeep Singh, the food safety officer, at the Anaj Mandi police station.

According to the FIR, a team led by the district health officer had conducted a raid at RK Chilling Centre on November 6 and took samples and sealed 5 kg of paneer, 15 litres of oil, 15 kg of skimmed milk powder.

“The report of samples received from the government laboratory stated that paneer was found to be substandard and skimmed milk unsafe for consumption. A notice was served on the owner of the centre, Rajinder Kumar, that the samples need to be retested again as per rules. However, he did not agree for re-sampling,” the FIR read.

The police said food safety officer Sandeep Singh handed over the notice to Rajinder. “Later, it was found that instead of 5-kg paneer that was sealed only 1 kg was recovered. The two suspects allegedly connived,” reads the complaint filed by District Health Officer Vijay Kumar.

Anaj Mandi SHO Jaspreet Singh said, “Till now, no arrest has been made and only the interrogation of the suspects would reveal about the missing substandard paneer.”