Hassan: Milk adulteration racket busted, 9 held

Hassan: You may have been drinking adulterated milk sold by the Karnataka Milk Federation since 2015. Milk unions have allegedly been adultering around 4,000 litres of milk bought from farmers every day and selling it to the Hassan Milk Union and KMF.

The lid was blown off the racket after Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna, who is also Hassan Milk Union president, grew suspicious and ordered an in-house investigation.  

Now nine men, including four employees of the Arasikere Milk Chilling Unit, have been arrested for the adulteration.    

Kurubahundi in Chikkamagaluru taluk was reportedly the hub of the racket, which involved mixing water and chemicals with the milk bought from farmers. 

The police has found that some employees of the Hassan Milk Union were hand in glove with the milk union secretaries and made sure that adulterated  milk was sold to KMF without passing the required tests.  

At first, some Hassan Milk Union officials allegedly tried to hush up the racket, but when it came to the notice of Mr Revanna, he asked one of his trusted employees, Soujanya to investigate it. Based on her report, the minister is said to have asked his senior officials to file a complaint with the Chikkamagaluru rural police, who later arrested the nine employees.  The police complaint was lodged about two months ago, according to a senior Hassan Milk Union official.

 Those involved in the adulteration racket were looking to make quick money, according to the police.