Puri, Jan 31: Konark police have taken action following a report published in Prameya exposing the sale of adulterated and substandard cashew nuts at the tourist destination of Konark. The report alleged that unscrupulous traders were mixing Nakuldana and low-quality, worm-infested cashews in packets and selling them to tourists at inflated prices.

Acting on the report, police conducted raids at multiple locations in Konark. On Friday afternoon, a team led by Nimapada SDPO Janardan Padhi, along with Konark IIC Purnachandra Sethi and other officers, raided a warehouse near the Jagannath Temple.

During the raid, police seized several quintals of cashew nuts, packing machines, weighing machines and two sacks of Nakuldana. All seized items were brought to the Konark police station for further investigation. Two traders have been detained in connection with the case.

According to allegations, the traders had been cheating tourists by selling adulterated cashew packets at ₹600 per kilogram. Police have launched a detailed investigation and further action is underway.

Worth mentioning, the scam came to light after several tourists complained that they had been cheated while purchasing cashew nuts near the world-famous Konark Sun Temple. Visitors later discovered that the packets they bought contained very little genuine cashew, with most of the contents consisting of nakula dana (fake kernels), leaving them shocked and distressed.

Notably, tourists from Maharashtra, believing Konark to be a reliable place for quality cashews, purchased the nuts at ₹600 per kilogram. However, upon opening the packets, they found that only 40 to 50 grams were real cashew nuts, while the rest were fake kernels. The packets were deceptively arranged to appear genuine from the outside, with the fraud becoming evident only after they were opened.