The crime branch received a tip off and raided the flat. They said the sanitisers belong to a company named Hiketo Gel.
Cops raided the flat in Mahim and seized 5,000 sanitiser bottles.
Unit 6 of the Mumbai crime branch arrested three people and seized 5,000 hand sanitiser bottles worth Rs 2.5 lakh from Mahim on Saturday. In the outbreak of coronavirus, the demand for facemasks and sanitisers has risen, but most stores are out of stock.
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According to crime branch officials, the accused were involved in black marketing and hoarded the hand sanitisersb at a flat in Mahim. The crime branch received a tip off and raided the flat. They said the sanitisers belong to a company named ‘Hiketo Gel’.
Police said while the price of a sanitiser was Rs 50, the accused were selling it at Rs 65 to Rs 100 per bottle.
On March 13, the government issued a notification and set the price for masks and hand sanitizers at Rs 50. A crime branch official said these hand sanitizers were distributed by Hindustan Laboratories Company to Juhu's Kyuarvel Medical and General Store.
“We have arrested Vraj Gaurang Dhariya (20), Jainam Haresh Dedhiya (21) and Neeraj Rajnikant Vyas (49). Probe is on to investigate where the accused got the sanitisers from,” a crime branch official said,
DCP Akbar Pathan told mid-day, "All three accused have been booked under Essential Commodities Act. And further investigations are on. They did not have any permits to sell hand sanitisers.”
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