Using water, the accused Karamjit Singh made Rs 2 lakh per day!
CHANDIGARH – An ingenious milk contractor of Samrala allegedly made more than Rs 1.20 lakh every day by creating a cavity in the 11,000 litre-capacity milk tanker to store 1,700 litres of water.
The accused, Karamjit Singh, and his driver Jagpal Singh were booked for fraud by the Samrala police on August 3. They are yet to be arrested. Sources said samples were taken daily from each tanker. As the cavity was not connected with the main tank, nothing wrong was found. The detection of the fraud has further embarrassed the Ludhiana Co-operative Milk Union. The latter is already mired in a controversy for allegedly supplying spurious milk and illegally buying milk from a Rajasthan firm. Officials of the Co-operative Department are inquiring into these allegations.
Karamjit had been supplying milk to the Ludhiana Milk Plant for the past three years. The Samrala police is investigating if the security staff at plant had colluded with him. The bank account of the accused is being looked into. The police said that Karamjit would use 3,400 litres of water daily. In this way, he made more than Rs 2 lakh per day. Presuming that he did not take the risk daily, he may have earned Rs 1 lakh every day.
Harsh Bansal, Khanna SSP, said the offence went undetected all these years even though the weight of the vehicle was checked daily at the milk plant. The accused would drain out the water when the tanker was taken away for washing after it was emptied.
Bhupinder Singh Bhullar, Samrala SHO, said that Karamjit would collect milk from villages in two tankers. One tanker was authorised to enter the Ludhiana Milk Plant. He would collect about 1,500 litres-1,700 litres of milk in the other tanker and then sell it to vendors at a lower price. The police said that alerted by certain persons, the security staff at the plant weighed the tanker after it was emptied but before the mandatory washing. It was found to weigh about 7,800 kg while the weight of an empty tanker is about 6,100 kg.
