Police in Chandigarh, India, raid “multi-lakh” operation that saw the sale of fake toners at two shops.
The Times of India reports that Rajnish Kumar and Kamaljit Singh were arrested by Chandigarh police after being accused of procuring fake toners for between Rs1,000 ($16/€12) and Rs1,500 ($25/€19) and illegally selling them in their shops for between Rs2,500 ($41/€31) and Rs3,500 ($58/€44).
The police had received a complaint from “a leading hardware and software brand” whose brand name was being used on the fake products, which were being sold in shops located in an area of the city known for being a “mini technology hub”; and have arrested the duo under sections 63, 63A and 68 of the Copyright Act, and under 420 of the Indian Penal Code.
A police official reportedly commented: “Rajnish was selling duplicate toners at his shop in Sector 22, whereas Kamaljit was running this illegal business from a shop in Sector 20. After receiving the complaint, we laid a trap and sent decoy customers to buy toners. Then we checked the authenticity of the bought machines with the genuine pieces. From the look and packaging, nobody can even make out that they are fake pieces. We had to seek the help of engineers to ascertain the difference.”
The official added: “This is a multi-lakh racket and the accused were buying fake pieces from a sales agent. We are trying to find out their source and [will] conduct raids at the manufacturing unit in the coming days.”
The Recycler has reported on a number of other anti-counterfeiting activities undertaken in India, including the arrest of a fake cartridge dealer in Mumbai in January; and in April HP were accused of making false counterfeiting claims in Delhi which led to a number of computer consumables dealers arguing that they had been “wrongly harassed” by the OEM.