The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended Blinkit’s food business licence at a warehouse in Bhiwandi after an inspection found 18,405 expired, spoiled or rejected food items valued at more than Rs 32.71 lakh, according to a report by Navbharat Times – Mumbai. Police have also registered an FIR against company executives and waste-disposal vendors.
The inspection was conducted on 21 October. The FDA reportedly found that the warehouse could not provide evidence of end-to-end traceability for the unsaleable stock or records showing that it had been destroyed. The authority said all licensed operations at the premises had been ordered to stop immediately.
The action centres on the risk that food products classified as expired, spoiled or rejected could be improperly reintroduced into the market and sold to consumers. The FDA’s intervention therefore covers not only the condition of the stock but also the records and disposal systems used to prevent rejected goods from returning to the supply chain.
The FIR was registered at Bhiwandi Taluka police station against Blinkit personnel, including a whole-time director and a facility manager, as well as several scrap-disposal vendors, the report said. The case invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including sections relating to cheating and criminal conspiracy, along with Section 59(i) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The allegations recorded in the case concern a suspected attempt to resell expired food products for financial gain. These remain allegations under investigation; the registration of an FIR does not by itself establish criminal liability. The FDA’s licence suspension, however, puts the warehouse’s food-related operations on hold pending the regulatory and legal process.
The case has wider significance because Bhiwandi is one of western India’s largest warehousing and logistics centres. The area serves e-commerce, retail, fast-moving consumer goods and third-party logistics companies, with large fulfilment centres supplying stock to smaller delivery facilities, including quick-commerce dark stores.
The report said companies including Zomato Hyperpure, Swiggy, Amazon and Blinkit operate large fulfilment facilities in the region. These facilities connect high-volume inventory systems with city delivery networks, making accurate stock records and controlled disposal important links in the urban food-supply chain.
The Maharashtra FDA has been conducting inspections and raids in Bhiwandi under Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, with attention on warehouses, dark stores and waste-disposal networks. The latest action places the warehouse’s traceability and disposal records at the centre of the investigation. The licence suspension and police case will now proceed through the applicable regulatory and legal processes.
