Pune (Maharashtra), April 10 (IANS): In a chiller, a dead rat was found frozen in a block of ice allegedly sourced from an ice-manufacturing factory in Junnar, raising questions about hygiene and public health here on Wednesday.

The discovery was made by a wholesale and retail ice vendor who supplies the bulk ice blocks to factories, hotels, restaurants and even street vendors selling different types of chilled drinks like fruit or dry fruit juices and milk-shakes, sugar-cane juice, lassi-chhaas-thandais, syrup-sherbet waters, ice-golas, or desserts like faloodas, etc., that are savoured by thousands daily.

When the shocked vendor saw the dead rodent sticking out of its frozen rat hole -- from the ice-block purportedly sourced from a Junnar unit -- he and others clicked photos/video clips, which have gone viral and sparked howls of protest among the citizenry on social media.

Many have raised accusing fingers at the Pune district officials, state Food & Drugs Administration and other concerned agencies for the severe lapse at the height of summer when ice and ice-based foods-desserts are in great demand.

Rattled by the alien in the ice, furious locals have demanded that the relevant agencies should immediately conduct raids and check whether the health-hygiene parameters are being adhered to or not and act on the matter.

The development comes barely days after people found samosas ‘stuffed’ with used condom packs, tobacco, pebbles and sand that were served at the staff canteen of an automobile major in the twin city of Pimpri-Chinchwada.

The Pune Police have booked a total of five persons belonging to an external private food caterer, while one was arrested and presently cooling his heels in judicial custody till April 22 as further probe is underway, said Senior Police Inspector Dnyaneshwar Katkar of Chikhli Police Station.