Watermelon seedoil8217;s role doubted

VADODARA, Sept 4: In what might provide a fresh insight into the sort of adulteration that could have gone into the contaminated mustard oil which spelt dropsy for several people in New Delhi, it has been revealed that the oil supplied from a Kheda-based mill to the prime supplier of the killer oil, Kamal Kumar Aggarwal, was made from watermelon seeds.

According to highly reliable sources in the Kheda district administration, the medium-sized Ambika Oil amp; Cake Industries of Kheda had supplied more than 11,000 kg of the stuff either to Aggarwal directly or to his agents during July and August.

A team of senior officials of the Kheda Collectorate had raided the factory hours after Aggarwal told a Delhi court that some of his stuff had come from that mill. The team, which recovered bill books of the stock supplied, on close scrutiny found that more than 11,000 kg of non-edible oil made from watermelon seeds was supplied to Aggarwal.