As many as four fruit sellers ended up behind the bars for allegedly selling rotten fruits in Badambadi area of Cuttack on Thursday.
Badambadi area is one of the most crowded places in Cuttack city. As there is a bus stand, hundreds of permanent and makeshift shops sell various articles starting from medicine to fruits.
The area has earned notoriety for some unscrupulous businessmen here who are always looking for gullible customers to sell their damaged or stale products away to them. But, four such fruit sellers had their luck run out on Thursday.
A woman customer identified as Pratima Sasmal went to a shop run by Deba alias Debendra Patra, 36, and bought a kilogram of apples. She picked the best ones from the heap, put them into a black polythene bag provided by the seller and then handed the polythene over to him. He went into his shop to weigh the fruits and then handed over the polythene bag to her.
To her utter dismay, she found that the apples were not the ones she had chosen. And, most of the apples were rotten. To teach him a lesson, she went straight to Badambadi police station and lodged a complaint.
Taking her complaint seriously, a team from the police station reached the fruit shop and arrested Deba. They also carried out raids at other shops and arrested three others for keeping stock of rotten fruits. The other three accused have been identified as Sk Arik (36), Krushna Chandra Mulia (39) and Bijay Kumar Rout (52). They also seized 32 kilograms of rotten fruits. All four were produced in a court.
The incident has since been a matter of discussion in the locality.
(Reported by Debasish Mohanty, OTV)