The Quick Action Team (QAT) of the Commissionerate Police on Friday busted a duplicate Zarda and Gutkha factory in Bharatpur area on the outskirts of the city and arrested seven persons for illegally producing the banned product.
Acting on a tip-off, the QAT along with Khandagiri police staff conducted raids on a house at Jokalandi in Bharatpur area under the Khandagiri police limits in the afternoon and seized a duplicate Zarda and Gutkha factory functioning in the house.
The police arrested factory owner Sashibhusan Bhanjadeo (37) of Gadahaladia in Khordha district along with an assistant of Ganjam district, two machine men and three helpers of Uttar Pradesh working in the factory.
The QAT seized a Gutkha manufacturing machine, a weighing machine, a stitching machine, a packing machine, seven big size polythene packets containing duplicate ‘Gurukul Dilux mix’ and ‘Nanujee’ Zarda Mawa and 16 big size polythene packets containing various raw materials for preparation of Gutkha.