Fake mineral water bottling units raided, seven arrested

GURGAON: The crime branch of Gurgaon police has busted a gang which used to supply fake mineral water bottles that were being sold under Pepsico India Ltd’s brand name, Aquafina. Police have arrested seven persons in this connection and four vehicles loaded with fake bottled water, wrappers and duplicate bottles have been seized.
An FIR has been lodged under Sections 420/467/468 of the IPC and the Copyright Act at the Badshapur police station. According to police, officials from Pepsico India Ltd met police officers and gave a complaint against some people who were running a plant of fake bottled water and selling them under their company’s name. A crime branch team of Sector 46 police then conducted raids at Samaspur, Vajirabad and Islampur village, where the accused were filling borewell water into the fake bottles and supplying them throughout the city.
A senior police officer said that when the police team raided the three plants of the fake bottling unit, the main accused and owner of the plants fled from the spot. Police, however, managed to arrest seven people who were working with them. The accused have been identified as Gajendra and Arvind, residents of Islampur village, Rajan and Vishwnath, residents of Vajirabad village, Sonu, a resident of Samaspur village, Virendra and Babloo, residents of Sector 18 in Gurgaon.
Police have also recovered four tempos loaded with fake 20-litre bottles, thousands of fake wrappers and duplicate bottles. “We hope to arrest the main accused as soon as possible,” said Maheshwar Dyal, DCP (crime).