Thane, Oct 4 A court in Maharashtra’s Thane district has acquitted three persons accused of dealing in banned gutka and paan masala, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges against them.
In his order on Saturday, Judge R M Rathod of the Sessions Court here said the charges pressed against the trio under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections were legally unsustainable.
During a raid in the Bhayandar area in neighbouring Palghar district in 2022, police had seized banned gutka, paan masala and tobacco products valued at nearly Rs 42,000 from a shop, according to court papers.
Authorities subsequently booked Kamlesh Brijshankar Upadhyay, Vinod Mataprasad Mishra, and Rajesh Mataprasad Mishra under IPC sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc.) and 188 (disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant).
The court said charges under these sections were legally unsustainable. It also struck down the application of the Food Safety and Standards Act, saying the prosecution could not prove that the seized products were adulterated food and the accused were selling any poisonous substance.
The court then ordered the acquittal of all three accused.
