Tirtol police bust fake engine oil racket in Jagatsinghpur

JAGATSINGHPUR: Tirtol police, on Tuesday, seized two barrels of adulterated engine oil, stickers of various reputed companies, and a large quantity of empty engine cans during a raid on an illegal factory in Dagarpada village. The factory was found to be manufacturing fake engine oil under the label of well-known brands.

Sources revealed that a racket was actively selling counterfeit mobil oil in Jagatsinghpur, Paradip, and other areas of the state. The adulterated oil was made by mixing engine oil with various other substances, then packaged in containers with labels of reputed brands and sold at inflated prices.

The operation came to light when Eipr India Pvt Ltd, a pioneer in the field of intellectual property protection in the South Asian market for over 20 years and based in Kolkata, identified the racket operating in the area. The racket, allegedly led by Subrat Mishra and Akhya Mishra, had been running for several months without detection.

Upon receiving this information, an investigation officer from Eipr India Pvt Ltd, Shani Ghosh, lodged an FIR last Thursday at Tirtol police station.

Acting on the complaint, Tirtol police, with the assistance of a magistrate, raided the site. They confiscated around two barrels of adulterated engine oil, stickers of reputed brand names, and numerous empty mobil cans from the factory in Dagarpada village.

Abhimanyu Nayak, the inspector in charge (IIC) of Tirtol police station, stated that a case has been registered based on the allegations by the investigation officer from Eipr India Pvt Ltd. The seized fake oil and stickers will be sent to a forensic laboratory in Bhubaneswar for examination. No arrests have been made yet as the accused remain at large, he added.