The incident dates back to the night of December 17, 2025, at the Modern Dairies Ltd facility located in Shamgarh, Karnal. According to the prosecution complaint, a commercial tanker arrived at the plant carrying paneer whey, logging an initial gross weight of 32,360 kg and an unladen tare weight of 11,800 kg after discharging the liquid. The driver allegedly connected the vehicle’s intake valves to the plant’s primary storage tanks and siphoned roughly 9,800 litres of processed milk. Plant security intercepted the vehicle near the exit gate, discovering 9,110 kg of unauthorized milk inside the tanker compartments.

Management at Modern Dairies alleged that the tanker driver orchestrated the theft in collusion with internal plant employees, causing substantial financial losses to the processor. Following the registration of a formal First Information Report (FIR), local police arrested the security guard on December 19, 2025, on the basis of a disclosure statement provided by a co-accused. During the wider investigation, law enforcement uncovered suspicious bank transactions totaling ₹45 lakh in the bank accounts of other co-accused individuals implicated in diverting milk outside the plant.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Pankaj Bali argued that the accused was merely a temporary contract guard assigned to external perimeter security with an unblemished record and no direct recoveries made from his possession. The defense underscored that the guard had no mechanical access to or oversight of the plant’s automated pumping manifolds, internal valves, or milk loading bays—which were operated exclusively by specialized dairy processing staff and monitored under extensive multi-layered CCTV surveillance.