New Delhi: Delhi Police has busted a fake Bisleri manufacturing unit in northwest Delhi’ Shakurpur and arrested two men for producing and selling thousands of counterfeit water bottles over the past year. According to police, the racket came to light after a formal complaint was filed by representatives of the Bisleri company regarding the illegal use of their branding and packaging materials. “After gathering credible intelligence, the police team conducted raids at two locations in Shakurpur and arrested two individuals — Sikander (30) and Ashish (19). During the operation, the team seized 127 counterfeit Bisleri stickers, 55 fake Bisleri bottle caps, 387 counterfeit barcodes, 26 twenty-litre water bottles bearing fake Bisleri branding, and seven heater guns and lighters used for affixing the counterfeit labels,” said DCP (Northwest) Bhisham Singh.The duo confessed that they had been running the operation for over a year. “They revealed that the fake Bisleri bottles were sold in local markets, deceiving customers and vendors alike. They were found to be operating an illegal bottling unit that used borewell water to fill 20-litre bottles, which were then labelled with fake ‘Bisleri’ branding, including stickers, caps, and barcodes. These bottles were subsequently pushed into the market as genuine products of the well-known bottled water brand,” DCP Singh added.The investigation also led cops to one Vishal Gupta, who was allegedly carrying out illegal boring operations and supplying untreated groundwater to the accused for bottling. Legal action under Sections 5 and 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act has been initiated against him. tnn
