Bhubaneswar, Feb 19 (IANS): The police in Odisha's Behrampur have seized counterfeit army combat uniforms being sold illegally at a textile shop, 'Ganjam Galaxy Store', an official said on Monday.
A total of 488 metres of combat uniforms worth Rs 1,20,000 have been seized by the police.
Police sources also said that one Rambabu Dangi who works in Army AD College, Gopalpur, during his visit to Berhampur noticed that the store was selling counterfeit new combat uniforms of the army.
Later, the Military Intelligence Unit, Gopalpur, tipped off the police about the illegal sale of counterfeit combat uniforms.
Based on the inputs, the Berhampur police conducted a raid and seized the counterfeit uniforms from the shop.
Police have initiated an investigation by registering a criminal case in this regard under various sections of IPC and the Copyrights Act. "The new digital pattern combat uniform was unveiled by the Army on January 15, 2022. The army has obtained Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for the design and camouflage patterns for a 10-year period, extendable for another five years. As per orders, the new uniforms have to be sold only in the army's unit-run canteens," said police sources.
As the IPR holder, the army now possesses exclusive rights to the design and can file a complaint against any unauthorised sale of this design.
This has been done to prevent unauthorised vendors from manufacturing and selling the combat uniform in the open market, as it was posing a serious security threat to the Indian Army.
"The owner feigned ignorance about the rules which is not plausible," said Saravana Vivek M, Berhampur SP who also confirmed that notice had been served against the shop owner.
He said that the owner of Ganjam Galaxy Store had procured this uniform from Kolkata and who in turn had procured it from Ludhiana.
"We are verifying as to why the shop owner was selling these uniforms. Who bought the uniforms from the shop and why? So far, we came to know that some Army and CRPF staffers had purchased the uniforms from the shop. We are verifying whether any civilians have bought these too. We are also trying to find out the motive of the original producers for making these uniforms," the Berhampur SP added.