VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 20: Two years after ban on paan masala in Jharkhand, Ranchi police have not made much headway in the investigation of the two FIRs lodged by the food safety officers against manufacturers and distributors of some of the popular paan masala brands.
Notably, on June 3, the state government again extended a ban on sale, purchase, production, storage, use and any other of paan masala for a period of one year. The FIRs were lodged at Sukhdeonagar and Argora police station and the police have not taken any concrete action against powerful persons who are the named accused.
The first complaint was lodged by food safety inspector Singray Saleeb Kullu at the Argora police station in July 2020 after he carried out raids at a house and seized a huge quantity of Shikhar brand paan mashala. He lodged a complaint against Pradeep Agrawal who is the owner of the Trimurti Fragrance that manufactures Shikhar paan masala. Besides, the complaint was lodged against the Clearing and Forwarding Agent (CNF) Pintu Kumar and others.
Kullu who is now posted as scientist at Birsa Agricultural University said that last time police called him in September last year to get some clarification on the batch number of the production. “I don’t know what happened in this case. I have not received any notice from the court to record my statement,” he said.
But an official of the Argora police station claimed that accused persons were charge-sheeted. “I believe that Pradeep Agrawal secured ‘no coercive’ order from the court. But the rest of the accused were charge-sheeted,” said the official. But he did not explain whether the police have any plan to approach the court to revoke the ‘no coercive’ order.
The second FIR (308/20) was lodged at the same time at Sukhdeonagar police station against manufacturers namely Neelkamal Jain (Bahar Paan Mashala and Dilruba Paan Mashala), Dharamvir Deni (Vimal Paan Mashala), Rajnish Kumar (Rajnigandha Paan Mashala) and Dipak Kothari (Pan Paraga Pan Mashala). Besides, several CNFs were booked in this case.
One of the local residents of Ranchi said that the ban was never seriously implemented in Jharkhand. “Catching any shopkeeper is not going to solve any purpose. you have to catch big players like manufacturers. Banned paan masala is easily available in the market. If you remember how Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan during the hearing of PIL no. 954/19 by Fariyad Foundation had exposed the claim of the government when he brought paan masala during the hearing. The High Court had ordered immediate action against persons involved in the business of banned paan masala. I too had lodged some of the complaints but the result was negative,” said the resident.
Even the JMM MLA and former minister Stephen Marandi wrote a letter to the DGP to demand the CID inquiry of both the cases. Now one Shiv Shankar Sharma has lodged a complaint to the Governor of Jharkhand Ramesh Bais against the inaction of the police.
“I have some crucial digital evidence that shows how owners and manufacturers have managed the case against them. Whenever required I am ready to submit. A powerful syndicate is involved in the sale and circulation of banned paan masala which is causing revenue loss to the government as well as health hazard to the people,” he said.
In 2020, the Hemant Soren government banned several brands of paan masala namely Paan Parag, Shikhar, Rajnigandha, Dilruba, Raj Nivas, Mushafir, Madhu, Vimal, Bahar, Sehrat and Paan Parag premium.