Four Held in Hyderabad for Making Adulterated Ginger-Garlic Paste

Hyderabad: Four persons were arrested for allegedly manufacturing adulterated and unhygienic ginger-garlic paste during a raid conducted by the Commissioner’s Task Force, Secunderabad Zone, along with the Lallaguda police at a godown in Lalapet on Saturday.

The accused were identified as Neela Venkateswaralu (56), owner of the Jhansi Ginger and Garlic Paste godown near Janapriya Apartments in Lalapet; K. Vinod (46), supervisor; and workers T. Sathish (23) and M. Shivani (46).

Police said the case has been registered at Lallaguda police station under Sections 318(4), 275, 223 read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in Crime No. 84/2026.

Acting on credible information, the Task Force team raided the premises and found the accused preparing ginger-garlic paste in highly unhygienic conditions. During the raid, the police seized 1,915 kg of ginger-garlic paste, acetic acid, xanthan gum, raw ginger and garlic, plastic tubs, packing materials, date stamps, labels and machinery used for grinding, weighing and packaging.

According to officials, the accused allegedly mixed chemicals such as acetic acid with ginger and garlic paste and stored the mixture in plastic tubs for several days. The paste was later packed into containers of various sizes, labelled with fake brand names and supplied to local kirana stores to make illegal profits.

The operation was carried out by Inspector J. Raj Shekar of the Secunderabad Zone Task Force, Inspector T. Ashok Kumar of Lallaguda police station, Sub-Inspector S. Raju of the Task Force and SI M. Rajeshwar Reddy of Lallaguda police, along with their teams.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Task Force, Ande Srinivas Rao, said further investigation is underway.