With the arrest of five persons, the Delhi Police has busted a gang involved in manufacturing of fake cumin (jeera) in Delhi’s Bawana area. Police has also recovered around 20,000 kilograms (kgs) of fake cumin from the possession of the accused.

The accused have been identified as, Harinandan, Kamran, Ganga Prasad, Harish and Pawan, all natives of Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Police said that the accused used to sell the Jeera for Rs 20 per kg in the market, whereas the market value of genuine Jeera is approx Rs 400 per Kg.

According to Gaurav Sharma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Outer North district, a tip of was received regarding the fake Jeera factory following which a raid was conducted along with officials of FSSAI and the accused were nabbed.

"At the factory it was found that the gang was manufacturing fake cumin (Jeera) with the help of Grass, Stone Powder and Sheera. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they learnt the process of manufacturing the fake cumin from their town itself," said the DCP.

Explaining their modus operandi, the DCP said that a special type of grass is first mixed in Sheera, then the stone powder is mixed in that stuff and the material resembles to original cumin.

"The accused used to purchase raw material from Rajasthan and later sold the fake cumins in UP and Rajasthan. The fake cumin was used to mix with original cumin in the proportionate of 80:20. Their modus operandi is to work at a place for 20-30 days only and then they used to shift to other place," said the DCP.

"Around 19.400 kgs of fake Jeera along with 5250 kgs of stone powder, 1600 kgs of grass and 1225 kgs of Sheera has been recovered from them" said the DCP.