A 70-year-old grocery shop owner was today arrested for allegedly stocking and selling banned gutka worth over Rs one lakh at his shop in Badlapur in the district.
The state police, for the "first time", has also booked the manufacturing companies of the banned substance found at the shop in order to find out how despite a ban, the gutka was still being sold in Maharashtra.
The accused, Guruling Veerabhadra Hore, of Shirgaon in Badlapur, was arrested after the Food and Drug Administration raided his shop last evening and seized gutka worth Rs 1,35,720 of various brands, Assistant Police Inspector P B Bondve of the Badlapur (East) police station said.
Besides Hore, police have booked four gutka manufacturing companies located in various parts of the country.
"It is for the first time that besides the one who stocks and sells gutka, the manufacturers of the banned substance have also been booked. We have done this as we want to carry out a deep inquiry into how despite a ban, gutka is still being sold in Maharashtra," Bondve said.
Hore and the manufacturers have been charged under sections of Food Safety and Standards Act, he added.
The Maharashtra government has banned sale and manufacturing of gutka, paan masala and all types of processed or packaged tobacco.
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