FDA FOUND FAKE HAND SANITISERS THAT DOES NOT MATCH THE QUALITY STANDARDS IN PUNE CITY

In the wake of Covid-19, one thing that has made its way into every house is - "Sanitizer". There has been a substantial increase in the sale of sanitiser since March 2020, which has led to black marketing of the same. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently conducted a raid in many shops and pharmacies of the Kharadi area on suspicion of selling adulterine sanitisers. They found many fake hand sanitisers that do not match the quality standards, as prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Assistant commissioner of FDA, Dinesh Khivansara, along with his team, had conducted a raid at the premises of Atma Agencies in Chandan Nagar and found the agency owner Prakash Atmaram Gurbani to be involved in the manufacturing and selling of fake sanitisers. These sanitisers were being sold under the name of other branded companies and their labels. It was alleged that this activity has been going on for the last five months in the areas of Chandan Nagar, Kharadi, Wadgaon Sheri, Hadapsar, Wagholi, Yerwada Viman Nagar, and more.

The Commissioner informed that over 1000 sanitisers with sticker labels costing around Rs. 17,000 were seized by them and sent to the lab for testing. An FIR has been lodged against the prime accused Gurnani and all the other people involved under the sections of 420 (Cheating) and 276 (sale of a drug as a different drug or preparation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Chandan Nagar police station. The accused have also attracted many relevant sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. 

Author: Papiha Ghoshal