Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh): Five persons were sentenced to life imprisonment in an adulterated ghee case by the Bareilly district and sessions court in Uttar Pradesh. The court of Additional District Judge Arvind Kumar Yadav awarded life imprisonment to five accused for manufacturing adulterated desi ghee. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the five accused. It is considered to be the highest-ever punishment against adulteration in the country so far.
Desi ghee adulteration case: UP's Bareilly court sentences life term to five accused
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the five accused persons. It is considered to be the highest-ever punishment against adulteration in the country so far. The case dates back to 14 years ago.
Bareilly court
Acting on a tip-off, police had raided a basement of a trading company situated in the Sarvodaya Nagar locality of the city on October 15, 2009, where the accused were caught making spurious ghee. Five persons were arrested by the police during the raid. Besides, the police had recovered fake desi ghee from an aluminium drum, sealed packets of substandard ghee, refined oil, other chemical substances, artificial fragrance and others. Around 26 quintals of spurious desi ghee were seized from the spot by the police.
Tejpal Singh Raghav, the public prosecutor, said, "The hearing was going on in the court for the past 14 years. During the trial of the case, eight witnesses were produced before the court. On Friday, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Arvind Kumar Yadav convicted all five accused Mahesh, Yogendra, Lokman, Satya Prakash and Subodh, all residents of Bareilly, and sentenced them to life imprisonment. A fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on them. Two other accused Rajneesh and Anupam were acquitted by the court for want of sufficient evidence."