Couple from Mysuru held in fake Nandini ghee racket
Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has arrested a couple from Mysuru in connection with a major racket involving the sale of adulterated ghee under the Nandini brand. The couple, identified as Shivakumar and his wife Ramya, were allegedly running a high-tech illegal manufacturing unit in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu.
The arrest follows an earlier operation where the CCB nabbed four individuals, including a distributor of Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) products. According to a report published by The New Indian Express on Thursday, the CCB has frozen Rs 60 lakh in the couple’s bank accounts, suspecting that it could be proceeds from the alleged crime.
Investigations revealed that Shivakumar and Ramya were linked to a larger network involved in producing and selling fake Nandini ghee. They had been manufacturing adulterated ghee and distributing it under the Nandini brand.
In a joint operation between the CCB and KMF’s vigilance wing, the authorities arrested Mahendra, a distributor of KMF products, his son Deepak, and Muniraju, who oversaw the transportation of adulterated ghee from Tamil Nadu. Abhi Arasu, the driver involved in the operation, was also arrested on November 14.
A substantial quantity of goods, including 8,136 litres of adulterated ghee, valued at Rs 1.26 crore, four vehicles, and a large amount of coconut and palm oil were seized. The adulterated ghee was produced by mixing one litre of original ghee with three litres of fake ghee, added the report.
The fake ghee was packaged in sachets and plastic bottles bearing the Nandini logo and supplied to Bengaluru-based KMF distributors. The accused also distributed the adulterated product to wholesale and retail shops, including Nandini outlets across the city.
The joint team raided godowns and shops and seized goods vehicles of Krishna Enterprises at Nanjamba Agrahara, Chamarajpet, owned by one of the accused and his family members.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
