Hyderabad: Weeks before the city residents celebrated a colourful Diwali this month, a set of 11 traders at the bustling Begum Bazar market were already on a high and in a festive mood.
They reaped unprecedented profits from the 'spices' they sold in large quantities to retailers, restaurants, and regular customers. These spices, it later turned out, were mostly fake and adulterated with poisonous chemicals that will have lasting ill-effects on those who have consumed them. The spurious stuff processed and sold in bulk here by a man hailing from Uttar Pradesh had also been sent in loads to other cities both inside and outside the state.
As per a rough police estimate, a set of traders who packed and sold these items knew well that what they were selling were not original stuff. They must have made huge profits by selling adulterated spices like black pepper, poppy and cumin and caraway seeds (Shahjeera). The racket, that operated out of a rented space belonging to former Congress MP, Anjan Kumar Yadav, was busted by South Zone police this week, and it is billed as one of the biggest food adulteration rackets.
The expensive 'high quality' pepper, for one, sold by the traders in Begum Bazar was actually not pepper. It was highly toxic papaya seeds. The seeds were mixed with synthetic gum, black and red iron oxide, and maida flour to look and taste like pepper. The poppy they sold had nothing to do with real poppy. It was a mixture of stone powder, Asian Paints stainer, and maida flour. The caraway seeds were just rotten garbage mixed with sodium hydrosulphate, and made to look fresh.
The food control authorities here were caught napping. It is proven yet again that they hardly do a job. The matter got exposed in a different way. A day after Diwali, a user posted a few lines about the discreet adulteration practice on the Facebook page of Telangan State Police DGP Anurag Sharma. That helped. Police teams from South Zone quickly collected some details and started raids simultaneously at the wholesale shops and the secret dens of the racket. While the teams could arrest the men directly involved in the racket from a building owned by ex MP Anjan Kumar Yadav, they could not get the adulterated spices from the shops they raided.
The kingpin of the racket was Rajesh Gupta, a native of Jalalabad in Shahjahanpur district of UP, who took the ex-MP's premises on huge rent to carry out the business. It is learnt that the packets made and sold by traders were priced high but sold at lower prices with big profit margins."The profit they made should be huge,” said South Zone DCP V. Satyanarayana.
Police interrogated Rajesh Gupta and said,"It's been eight months he has been running this racket.
Edible oil mixed with oil extracted from animal carcass, milk mixed with hydrogen peroxide, fruits laced with carcinogen calcium carbide, vegetables mixed with copper sulphate, masala powders mixed with sawdust and rick powders and spices adulterated with deadly chemicals. The people of Telangana State are treated to them all, as food adulteration rackets expand their business in state.
Apart from issuing licences, the food safety department hardly ever keeps any check or conducts raid. It's the police that is busting such rackets, The wholesale traders as also the UP man and his men who made the products have been jailed.
Racketeers find city safe to market toxic food products
A businessman named Om Prakash and his acquaintance Rajesh Gupta had been running an adulteration racket for more than eight years in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh. They sold crores worth of toxic food items in Delhi and other north Indian cities. In 2010, they met a set of traders from Hyderabad in Delhi. Their friendship grew and they realised that Hyderabad would be a better base to operate their racket, also as the South has a reputation for its spices. The racket founded its base in Hussaini Alam and started exporting the adulterated spices to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
“They found that Hyderabad was less risky," said an officer from South Zone who interrogated the Gupta. "The traders from Hyderabad had told them how safe it was here to run such a racket, and that no one would catch them. They were right; no enforcement agency took note of their presence till last week. Before Rajesh Gupta came to the city, he had been supplying duplicate poppy to a wholesale trader named Mahender in Begum Bazaar. It continued for two years. First, he had to send the items from Fatehpur. After starting the processing here, he tapped on more traders,” he said.
Police is yet to arrest Om Prakash, who is located in Delhi. The racket brought raw materials from Delhi to Hyderabad, and sent the adulterated items to Delhi. The lack of a mechanism to carry out regular checks on food articles in markets in the state makes it easier for racket to grow here.
Chemicals can lead to cancer: Doctors
Doctors say the deadly chemicals mixed in edibles can lead to chronic diseases like cancer.
Most of the chemicals used in various food items by the rackets are highly toxic and can lead to dangerous health problems.
The consumption of these products will cause anaemia, glaucoma, kidney ailments, and gastrointestinal problems.
“Calcium carbide in fruits can cause cancer in the long run. It contains traces of arsenic and phosphorous. When calcium carbide enters the stomach, it will lead to irritation and other gastric issues,” said general physician from Apollo, Dr. H. Kishan.
“Copper sulphate in vegetables can lead to kidney-related problems. Long-term consumption will result in breathing problems and a reduction in blood percentage in body,” he said.
“The paint the racket mixes with spices contains a lot of lead, which is harmful to human body.”
“Lead toxicity will cause a reduction in the haemoglobin levels in human body. Weight loss, constipation, anaemia are common problems caused by lead,” said another doctor.
