The Rajasthan Police District Special Team (DST) broke up a large-scale Adulterated Milk manufacturing unit in Diggi Town, Tonk District. The illegally run factory was said to be producing 80,000 litres of toxic adulterated milk per day, which was being distributed to the main markets in Jaipur and Ajmer.
Acting on precise intelligence, the special team carried out a midnight raid on the factory that was secretly running near the religious place of Diggi Kalyanji. The magnitude of the operation left the prosecutors in awe when they discovered the unit was capable of producing enormous quantities of “toxic” milk through the use of hazardous chemicals.
Key Items Seized During the Operation:
- 5,500 litres of ready-to-supply adulterated milk.
- 2,500 kg of lactose monohydrate.
- 105 kg of caustic soda, used to maintain a “fresh” appearance and prevent spoilage.
- 2,100 litres of soybean oil and 500 litres of vanaspati ghee/palm oil to simulate fat content.
- Five pickup trucks and one milk tanker used for regional distribution.
How the Adulterated Milk was being Made:
In order to produce the synthetic milk, the suspects were using a dangerous cocktail of chemical/ingredients to mimic natural dairy.
First they took water and mixed it with Lactose Monohydrate and Milk Powder to get the base liquid. Then, to mimic the natural fat content, they mixed huge amounts of Soybean Oil and Vanaspati Ghee/Palm Oil into the mixture. At last, they used Caustic Soda in the fake milk, a very alkaline chemical which is mostly used for making detergents but they used it to help the fake milk last and prevents the curdling of the fake milk as well as keeping the ‘fresh’ look during the way to the city markets.
Actions taken by the Police:
During the raid, Police Officers arrested five suspects at the scene. However, the main accused behind the racket Sonu Yadav from Behror, Haryana is yet to be caught.
According to the initial probe, the operation was managed by the outsiders who selected the place to stay incognito but at the same time maintaining close distance to the big cities for example, Jaipur. Complaints have been lodged by the police, who have also started chasing the bigger supply chain and have their main focus on catching the main culprit.
Fight Against Food-Adulteration
This bust is one of the actions that the Rajasthan government is taking to implement intensively the “Pure Food – War on Adulteration” campaign at the state level. Similar prominent actions have taken place over the past few weeks, such as the confiscation of more than 43,000 litres of adulterated ghee in Jaipur. These moves come after the Rajasthan High Court made a 2024 observation that the right to life guaranteed by the constitution includes the right to get safe and healthy food.
