Indian Police Discover Fake Cartridge Scheme

An illegal scheme to make fake cartridges has been raided in Bhiwandi, a city in India’s Maharashtra state. Police raided a godown (an Indian term for a warehouse) in Val village on Wednesday 6^th November and seized a number of branded cartons worth 250 million rupees, which is equivalent to just under $3.5 million US dollars. The cartons were falsified duplicates that bore the names of electronic brands. No actual cartridges were confiscated from the warehouse. Police are further investigating and trying to locate the source of any cartridges.

One arrest has been made: Kishor Bera, a 28-year-old man, has been arrested under the Copyright Act. The police are still in the process of finding out if more people were involved in the illegal operation. They are also questioning Mr Bera in order to learn about his methods. Rajkumar Shinde, the local deputy commissioner of policy in Bhiwandi, commented on the case: “We are trying to find out from where the boxes were printed with the names of the brands and also from where the duplicate cartridges are acquired. There is a possibility of more people being involved in the racket.”

The police were alerted to the illegal activity through a tip-off. “Based on the tip-off, we raided the godown and arrested one person in this case. The stocked duplicate cartons were used to pack fake cartridges, consisting the names of branded companies. However, we did not find any cartridge at the godown,” commented Shinde. Copyright infringement is becoming an increasingly large problem in the printing industry.