Hyderabad: In a major crackdown, the Commissioner’s Task Force, South-East Zone, along with Balapur and Afzalgunj police, busted a manufacturing unit that was producing fake Karachi Mehendi cones. Two men were arrested, and goods and machinery worth nearly ₹8 lakh were seized in simultaneous raids conducted on January 13.
The primary accused, Md Asif, 48, had set up the illegal unit at his residence in Minar Colony, Balapur. Initially manufacturing unbranded mehendi cones, Asif later shifted to producing counterfeit Karachi Mehendi cones to take advantage of the product’s strong market demand.
Police seize cones, raw chemicals, and packaging machinery
Asif worked with Deepak Kumar, 25, a wholesaler from Gowliguda, to distribute the fake products. Kumar supplied the counterfeit cones to local retailers and to customers in other cities, using private transport channels to pass them off as original items.
During the coordinated raids at Minar Colony and SKS Travels & Cargo in Afzalgunj, police recovered a large quantity of materials, including:
- 8,400 fake Karachi Mehendi cones
- One mehendi filling machine
- One mixer unit
- Two heating stoves
- One weighing machine
- 10 drums (20 litres each) of mixed material
- 100 kg of mehendi dry powder
- 5 kg of radiant oxalic acid
- 2 kg of colouring agents
- 200 printed Karachi Mehendi boxes
- 500 empty cones
- Packaging material and two mobile phones
Authorities confirmed that the accused operated without any legal authorisation to manufacture or brand the cones. Consequently, by selling these unregulated products under a known brand name, they deceived the public and posed potential health risks.
The arrests and seizures followed a tip-off and were made under the supervision of Inspector S. Saidababu. Sub-Inspectors K. Swamy and M. Madhu, along with teams from the South-East Zone Task Force, Balapur Police, and Afzalgunj Police, carried out the operation.