The DNA fingerprinting report obtained by the police revealed that the human finger found in a Malad doctor’s ice cream earlier this month belonged to an employee of the ice cream factory.
Police reported that Omkar Pote, a 24-year-old from Pune, injured his finger on May 11 while working with ice cream cones at the Fortune Dairy factory in Indapur, known for producing Yummo ice creams.
The Malad police collected DNA samples from Pote and sent them to the forensic lab in Kalina last week to confirm if the finger was his. They also sent Pote’s blood samples to check for any diseases that could pose risks to consumers of ice creams from the same batch.
On Thursday, police received the DNA fingerprinting report from Kalina, confirming that Pote’s samples matched the finger found in the frozen dessert. The blood test results showed that Pote did not have any diseases that could pose risks to consumers.
Ravi Adane, the senior police inspector of Malad police station, stated that the employee and factory supervisors were negligent in allowing the contaminated ice cream batch to be packed and shipped. “We will issue a notice to them under section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code, as the maximum punishment for the sections invoked is less than seven years,” he added.
The incident was uncovered when Brandon Serrao, an MBBS doctor from Malad West, discovered a piece of human finger in an ice cream cone he ordered online on June 12. After the doctor filed a complaint, a case was registered against Yummo ice cream officials, and the finger was sent to the forensic lab in Kalina. A Malad police team then visited the dessert factory in Indapur, identified Omkar Pote, and collected his DNA and blood samples.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a stop-work notice to the Fortune Dairy unit in Indapur, which manufactured the ice cream, following the incident, said police.
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