Condoms, Stones, Gutkha Found In Samosas At Pune Company’s Canteen, 5 Arrested

In a shocking incident at a prominent automobile firm in Pune, things like condoms, stones and tobacco were allegedly found in the samosas served at the company’s canteen. The disturbing event took place at the company located in Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad and came to light on March 27. Investigations were carried out after the employees reported traces of stones, gutkha and even a condom in their food. The police are probing the matter and have also booked five people, including two workers of the subcontracting firm that supplied samosas and three partners of another firm that was earlier removed for adulteration.

According to a report in ANI, the act was carried out by a businessman to take revenge after his agreement with the automobile company was terminated. As per the police, the three partners had planned the overall act and planted the two workers to ensure that the firm that had the samosa contract got defamed.

The police further mentioned that Catalyst Service Solutions Pvt. Ltd. was responsible for supplying snacks to the company’s canteen. However, they were replaced, and the contract was given to another subcontracting firm named Manohar Enterprise. During the police interrogation, the two workers identified as Firoz Shaikh and Vicky Shaikh admitted to having stuffed condoms, gutkha, and stones in the samosas, the police added. They also confessed that they were employees of SRA Enterprises and were sent by its partners to Manohar Enterprises to adulterate food.

Presently, a case under IPC Sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) has been registered.

Notably, there have been multiple incidents of unhygienic food being served at canteens in companies or educational institutions. Earlier, in another alarming incident this year, around 20 teachers at a college in Uttar Pradesh were hospitalised after consuming worm-infested samosas from a local sweet shop. Investigations revealed that the samosas were stale and contained poisonous worms.

Earlier in July 2023, a customer lodged a complaint with the food safety department after finding a worm in a dosa served at the UT Red Cross Canteen in Chandigarh’s Government Multi-Specialist Hospital. The customer, named Pooja, filed a written complaint with the food safety officer and shared details of the incident. Later, the canteen contractor alleged that the previous contractor’s staff deliberately engaged in such actions to create trouble.