A preliminary inquiry by the Vigilance wing of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation (Supplyco) has found that a video alleging presence of paraffin or mineral oil in its Sabari coconut oil is “fake”.
The video has been widely shared in social media platforms, including WhatsApp. A female voice is heard alleging that the packet of Sabari coconut oil brought from a Supplyco outlet in Adimali contained paraffin. “Preliminary investigation has revealed that the video is fake. A similar video had surfaced on social media and YouTube in 2021, which also proved to be fake,” said C.S. Shahul Hameed, Vigilance Officer, Supplyco.
The corporation has sought the help of the Kerala Police cyber wing to trace the source of the video. The inquiry by the Vigilance wing found that no complaints had been received from any person claiming that the Sabari coconut oil purchased by them had contained paraffin. On the mention in the video that the coconut oil was purchased from the Adimali outlet of Supplyco, the authorities said such a complaint had not been lodged at any of the outlets.
Such propaganda often comes whenever Supplyco tries to intervene to regulate prices in the open market. Those behind the fake video had purposefully quoted Adimali in order to trigger the thought that paraffin was detected after the oil turned hard in cold weather prevailing in the region. Sabari coconut oil is among the 14 items in the Onam kit being distributed by the government to ration card holders, the Supplyco authorities said.
