By A chemistry teacher who retired as a Madhya Pradesh government school principal was booked by police on Friday for making and selling synthetic milk in Morena district, 465 km north of Bhopal. The accused is absconding, said police.
The act of the 65-year-old retired principal Deendayal Sharma, a resident of Khadiyahar village under Ambah tehsil in Morena district came to light during a raid conducted by a joint team of police, food safety department and district administration personnel on Thursday. The team seized 200 litres of synthetic milk, palm oil and chemicals from the house of the accused, said police.
The FIR was lodged on Friday evening on a complaint filed by food safety officer in the district, Avinash Gupta, under sections 272 (Adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (Sale of noxious food or drink) and 420 (Cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 51, 57, 58 and 59 of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, according to the police.
As per the FIR, the retired principal was found in possession of synthetic milk and he tried to mislead the raiding team by claiming to collect 250-300 litres of milk daily but he couldn’t show any licence or registration for any such business.
“During the raid, 10 kg of maltodextrin powder and 8 kg of refined palm oil was seized, besides the milk samples, which were sent to the State food laboratory for examination. The materials seized suggest that Deendayal Sharma prepares synthetic milk and sells it to others, which is harmful for the health of people,” said the complainant in the FIR.
Sihonia police station in charge Rajkumar Singh said, “A police team went to arrest the accused Deendayal Sharma after the FIR was lodged against him but he was found absconding. We will arrest him soon.”
A local social activist and former student of Deendayal Sharma, Jayant Tomar, said, “When Sharma joined girls’ higher secondary school in Khadiyahar almost 15 years ago, the passing percentage of the girls’ students was just 17% but he helped improve it to 70% in just a few years. He also made efforts to improve the quality of education. That’s why we can’t believe that he may be involved in a crime like adulteration.”
A state-wide campaign is going on across the state against adulteration of food. In Morena, National Security Act (NSA) was invoked against a dairy owner Dharmendra Sharma on Wednesday for making synthetic milk.
