Kolkata: The Enforcement Branch of the state will investigate the rotten meat case in which 15 persons have been arrested so far.
Senior officials of the EB visited Budge Budge and initiated the probe.
The police on Saturday raided a flat in Dakshindari in northern suburbs but could not find Kausar Ali and his brother Aslam. Kausar and his partner used to run the poultry in New Town behind City Centre II. The police is looking for the partner and senior officials feel that the duo will be able to throw light on the agencies that used to pick up rotten chicken from the poultry. The police have also sealed a shop owned by Kausar in Dakshindari.
The police have seized the register containing the names of the agencies, restaurants, eateries and food chains that used to take the rotten chicken from the poultry. The police said they will find out whether the agencies had taken the rotten chicken unknowingly or they had procured the stock deliberately as it was sold at a cheaper price.
The police also spoke to some of the residents of the apartments situated nearby. The residents have told them that often they had a burning sensation in their eyes and experienced breathing difficulty because of the foul smell. Police said acid was used to process the rotten chicken and later they were mixed with fresh chicken and put in packets that were sent to the restaurants, eateries and hotels in containers. The police have seized 10 deep freezers too.
Meanwhile, in the wake of allegations of export of carcass meat to different parts of the state, the two leading universities in the city, Calcutta University and Jadavpur University are taking measures to ensure that such meat does not reach the canteens inside the premises of the varsity.
The vendors running the canteen in CU have been instructed to purchase meat directly from the butcher and then cook it accordingly.
"We usually have only chicken and fish in our menu at all the hostels and canteens except Carmichael hostel where even mutton is also cooked. All have been instructed to ensure that they purchase directly from the market and there should be no procurement from any other supplier," a senior CU official said. Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee,
Vice-Chancellor of CU, said: "Our hostels are run by the mess committee. I have instructed the concerned officials to keep an eye on the procurement of meat in order to ensure that there is no irregularity."
Jadavpur University has already instructed the canteen proprietors to take adequate steps in this regard. "We will soon hold a meeting with them. We have five authorised canteens inside the campus that is run on lease," Chiranjib Bandyopadhyay, Registrar of JU, said.
However, the Registrar assured that the official guest house in the university procures meat from reliable agencies.