One held in tea powder adulteration racket

One held in tea powder adulteration racket

A 33-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday for adulterating tea powder with synthetic chemicals and selling it to local vendors in Hyderabad.

The accused, identified as Jagannath Bishnoi, a resident of Fathenagar, Sanathnagar, was arrested following a raid conducted by the West Zone Team of the Commissioner’s Task Force in coordination with Sanathnagar police.

During questioning, Bishnoi allegedly admitted adulterating tea powder for illegal profit. Investigation revealed that he procured cocopeat, filtered excess coconut husk and mixed it with hot jaggery water. The mixture was dried for two to three days before synthetic food colours were added. After further drying, the coloured cocopeat was mixed with low-quality tea dust and granules to prepare the adulterated product.

For every kilogram of tea powder, the accused allegedly mixed 450 grams of low-grade tea dust, 500 grams of low-grade tea granules and 50 grams of colour-treated cocopeat. The product was then supplied to local tea stalls and dealers at inflated prices, falsely representing it as genuine tea powder.

During the raid, police seized 120 kilograms of colour-mixed tea powder, 30 kilograms of natural tea powder, 138 kilograms of cocopeat mixture, 1.5 kilograms of colours, a weighing machine, a domestic gas cylinder, jaggery boxes, carry bag bundles and other equipment used in the adulteration process.