Baghpat (UP), Oct 6 (PTI) Authorities here cracked down on a fake packaged drinking water racket on Sunday after the district magistrate found a 500 ml bottle of a counterfeit on his table at an official event, the district's information department said.
District Magistrate (DM) Jitendra Pratap Singh was served the bottle during the 'Baghpat Tehsil Sampoorna Samadhan Diwas' programme and upon closer inspection, he noticed that it lacked a food licence number and other essential details.
Following this discovery, officials from the food safety department conducted raids on shops and warehouses selling water bottles with logos similar to popular brands, the information department said.
The raids led them to one Bhim Singh, who was operating an unlicensed warehouse in Gauripur that supplied counterfeit water bottles to various shops in the district, and 2,663 fake water bottles having labels imitating a popular brand were destroyed using a bulldozer.
A challan was issued to Bhim Singh and a case was filed against him for operating the unlicensed warehouse, according to the information department.
The food safety department collected samples for testing, it added.
A video of officials destroying the fake water bottles using a bulldozer is doing the rounds on social media.
The DM said a team has been formed to investigate the supply chain of fake water bottles.
"The sale of counterfeit goods not only cheats consumers but also poses a risk to their health. All efforts will be made to stop the sale of counterfeit goods," he added.