Spurious medicines worth Rs 42L seized
NEW DELHI: On your next visit to a pharmacy, don't forget to check the expiry date on the medicines you buy. Watch out! They may even be spurious or meant for free distribution through various government hospitals.
Delhi Police on Tuesday busted an organized ring selling spurious medicines and those meant for CGHS, MCD, ESI and even the Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) for the past 10 years. It is the first time that such a racket has involved DGAFMS.
A special investigation team, lead by Inspector Amit Tomar, said the raids were carried out at central Delhi's medical wholesale market, Bhagirath Place, and subsequently also in Agra. While the raids in Delhi were conducted on June 3 and yielded drugs worth Rs 8 lakh, the Agra raids were conducted on June 6 and yielded drugs worth Rs 34 lakh. "We have found that a total of 115 different kinds of drugs were being sold without any licence by this gang. We are still ascertaining whether these seized medicines, meant for the government hospitals, are genuine or spurious. We are also trying to ascertain whether the government stamp marks found on the seized medicines were original or duplicate. Racketeers may have stamped the spurious medicines with the names of different government agencies to authenticate them so that people will assume that these medicines are genuine and purchase them," said DCP (crime) Ashok Chand said.
Additional DCP Joy Tirkey said that the worst part was that almost the entire lot recovered from Agra turned out to be expired drugs. "They were pushed into north Indian markets after recycling. Worse, a senior official of a pharmaceutical company, who accompanied the raiding party, told the police that 45 ampoules of seized 'Susten 100' injections, used by pregnant women, were also spurious. Other medicines include those meant to cure heart ailment and diabetes.
While the raids in Delhi were conducted on June 3, the Agra raids were conducted on June 6. "We have recovered Rs 8 lakh worth of spurious drugs in Delhi and another Rs 34 lakh worth of drugs in Agra. We have now written to the concerned government agencies to ascertain whether the medicines, which are stamped have been siphoned off from their stocks. For this, the manufacturing date and batch numbers have been preserved."
Krishan Gopal, 42, a chemist, and his manager Anuj Jain, 32, were the first to be arrested from Bhagirath Place here on June 3 after cops received a tip-off. Pawan Gupta, 34, who allegedly sold the medicines to Gopal and Jain, was also arrested from Agra later. "We received two tip-offs. It emerged that Pawan and his brother Piyush supplied the spurious medicine after buying them from a factory located in Ghaziabad. Three others - Vicky, Anil and Nareen residing in Meerut - provided the government supplies to them. Pawan's elder brother Piyush escaped as he was in Palampur during the police raid. Now Piyush along with the Meerut module are absconding," said an officer.
While medicines worth Rs 8 lakh were seized from Gopal's shop, drugs worth Rs 34 lakh were recovered from Gupta's illegal godown in Agra. "All the drugs seized are also being checked by the Drug Controller of UP and Delhi to ascertain whether they are spurious or genuine. A separate case has been registered in UP by the Agra police," Chand said. Gopal, who owns a chemist shop in Bhagirath Place, allegedly started selling spurious medicines 10 years ago while Jain has worked as his manager for the past two years.
Delhi Police on Tuesday busted an organized ring selling spurious medicines and those meant for CGHS, MCD, ESI and even the Director-General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) for the past 10 years. It is the first time that such a racket has involved DGAFMS.
A special investigation team, lead by Inspector Amit Tomar, said the raids were carried out at central Delhi's medical wholesale market, Bhagirath Place, and subsequently also in Agra. While the raids in Delhi were conducted on June 3 and yielded drugs worth Rs 8 lakh, the Agra raids were conducted on June 6 and yielded drugs worth Rs 34 lakh. "We have found that a total of 115 different kinds of drugs were being sold without any licence by this gang. We are still ascertaining whether these seized medicines, meant for the government hospitals, are genuine or spurious. We are also trying to ascertain whether the government stamp marks found on the seized medicines were original or duplicate. Racketeers may have stamped the spurious medicines with the names of different government agencies to authenticate them so that people will assume that these medicines are genuine and purchase them," said DCP (crime) Ashok Chand said.
Additional DCP Joy Tirkey said that the worst part was that almost the entire lot recovered from Agra turned out to be expired drugs. "They were pushed into north Indian markets after recycling. Worse, a senior official of a pharmaceutical company, who accompanied the raiding party, told the police that 45 ampoules of seized 'Susten 100' injections, used by pregnant women, were also spurious. Other medicines include those meant to cure heart ailment and diabetes.
While the raids in Delhi were conducted on June 3, the Agra raids were conducted on June 6. "We have recovered Rs 8 lakh worth of spurious drugs in Delhi and another Rs 34 lakh worth of drugs in Agra. We have now written to the concerned government agencies to ascertain whether the medicines, which are stamped have been siphoned off from their stocks. For this, the manufacturing date and batch numbers have been preserved."
Krishan Gopal, 42, a chemist, and his manager Anuj Jain, 32, were the first to be arrested from Bhagirath Place here on June 3 after cops received a tip-off. Pawan Gupta, 34, who allegedly sold the medicines to Gopal and Jain, was also arrested from Agra later. "We received two tip-offs. It emerged that Pawan and his brother Piyush supplied the spurious medicine after buying them from a factory located in Ghaziabad. Three others - Vicky, Anil and Nareen residing in Meerut - provided the government supplies to them. Pawan's elder brother Piyush escaped as he was in Palampur during the police raid. Now Piyush along with the Meerut module are absconding," said an officer.
While medicines worth Rs 8 lakh were seized from Gopal's shop, drugs worth Rs 34 lakh were recovered from Gupta's illegal godown in Agra. "All the drugs seized are also being checked by the Drug Controller of UP and Delhi to ascertain whether they are spurious or genuine. A separate case has been registered in UP by the Agra police," Chand said. Gopal, who owns a chemist shop in Bhagirath Place, allegedly started selling spurious medicines 10 years ago while Jain has worked as his manager for the past two years.
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