Police have registered a formal First Information Report against officials and staff members associated with Reliance Consumer Products, Reliance Retail, Blinkit, and Zomato Hyperpure following a major enforcement action by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration. The operation resulted in the seizure of expired and damaged food goods valued at more than Rs 48 lakh during coordinated raids conducted across the Thane and Pune districts.
The regulatory crackdown followed targeted inspections carried out on October 14 and October 15. Preliminary findings by the state food safety regulator revealed that consumable products designated for proper destruction were allegedly siphoned off through third-party disposal contractors, unauthorized sorting facilities, and brokers before eventually finding their way back to retail consumers.
The ensuing criminal case, lodged at the Shanti Nagar police station in Thane, implicates 10 persons. The list includes senior executives and workers from the four major e-commerce and retail entities, operators of disposal agencies, and local market suppliers. Charges have been brought under relevant sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of 2023.
Among the individuals named in the police filing are V Subramaniam and Ashok Kumar Singh of Reliance Consumer Products Ltd, along with Vijay Bhikaji Kharmale and warehouse manager Nilesh Ramdasrao Deshmukh of Reliance Retail Ltd. Additional names include Arbinder Singh Dhinsa and Deepak Singh representing Blinkit Commerce, Abid Shaikh from Zomato Hyperpure, disposal agency operator Babar Miya Ahmed Siddiqui, local supplier Gulzar Abdul Khan, an individual named Chavindra from Bhiwandi, and Abdul Mobin Khan of Discount Store in Bhiwandi.
Details provided by regulatory sources indicate that the confiscated inventory included stock valued at upwards of Rs 24 lakh recovered from a disposal site in Bhiwandi, approximately Rs 4.92 lakh retrieved from a Reliance Consumer Products warehouse located in Vadpe, and nearly Rs 7.81 lakh found at Zomato Hyperpure's facility in Usatane. The aggregate monetary worth of all intercepted goods reached Rs 48,09,924.
Investigators uncovered a scheme wherein substandard, expired, or customer-returned food articles slated for elimination were systematically diverted into commercial channels. Contracted disposal firms allegedly issued formal compliance certificates and paperwork asserting that the items had been thoroughly destroyed without maintaining proper verification protocols or oversight of the destruction procedure.
Furthermore, state inspectors noted widespread irregularities within the maintenance of disposal logs, including volume discrepancies and conflicting data regarding the originating senders and intended recipients. The intercepted merchandise was reportedly sorted at unpermitted yards within Bhiwandi, where product packaging deemed visually acceptable was filtered out and passed on to intermediaries and retail suppliers.
Authorities subsequently discovered that expired and leaking food goods were displayed for retail purchase at an unlicensed shop operating without valid trade permits or purchase invoices in Gulzar Nagar, Bhiwandi. In response to the widespread violations, the regulatory body deployed seven specialized squads comprising assistant commissioners and food safety inspectors to execute the multi-location sweep.
During the operations, officers cataloged inventories, confiscated stock, drew laboratory samples, documented witness testimonies, and imposed immediate prohibitions against the transfer, sale, or disposal of the contested items. Following administrative hearings conducted on October 15, the operational licenses of five separate commercial establishments were formally suspended, while activities at four unlicensed properties were ordered to cease entirely.