On May 19, this consignment of 1,760 bags, which had been dispatched by the Mehsana unit of Milk Products Union (AMUL) in Gujarat, was delivered at the Shadipur depot unit of the Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) and the truck drivers made good their escape. Next day itself, the vigilant workers of DMS found that the consignment had some bags which contained adulterated milk powder.

Immediately, officials of the Prevention of Food Adulteration and later the Crime Branch officials of Delhi police were notified. It was found that 22 of these bags had been filled with cheap adulterant and the entire consignment of 1,760 bags wassealed.

According to the officials of the Crime Branch of Delhi police, the investigations are almost complete and the gang has been identified. The modus operandi, according to a senior official of the Crime Branch is quite simple. ``There is a gang in Rajasthan that waylays trucks and then steals part of their goods. They befriend the truck drivers and in connivance with them substitute part of the goods that they are carrying. The loot of course, is shared by both the parties. It was this gang that operates in the Rajasthan sector, which is responsible for this adulteration,'' he said.

Confirming this, Dr K K Paul, Joint Commissioner, Crime Branch says: ``The milk powder had been substituted by crushed soapstone which is usually used for making sculptures. We have arrested three men so far, but we are still on the look out for the men who were helping them in Delhi. We are hopeful that the investigations would be over in a few days.''

Senior officials say that though the men they have arrested sofar, insist that this is the first time that they substituted the skimmed milk powder with soapstone, they are not convinced. ``We are not ruling out the possibility that they may have done so on earlier occasions also. However, we must say that we have found no evidence to back this so far. Since this is a sensitive matter, we are looking into all possible angles,'' said Dr Paul.

While soapstone costs around Rs 8 per kilogram, skimmed milk powder as priced at around Rs 50 per kg. Crime Branch officials also say that during interrogation, the gangsters revealed that they had substituted 40 bags, however DMS officials say that only 22 bags contained soapstone. They pointed out that the rest of the consignment had been sealed and continued to remain so till date.