PATNA: The Patna high court on Thursday asked DIG (central range) to submit a counter affidavit within three weeks stating whether the
medicine scam was an interstate matter or not.
The division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar Upadhyay also asked petitioner Vikash Chandra alias Guddu Baba to bring the report of Bharat Serum and Vaccines Limited, a Mumbai-based pharmaceutical firm, on record. It was mentioned in the report that expired anti-snake venom serums seized in Patna were supplied only to Gujarat from where the consignment had landed in Patna after their expiry.
The expired serums and other fake and expired drugs were recovered the in state capital on May 27 last year. The serums, each costing Rs 600, were re-stamped with Rs 1,500 and their expiry dates were also changed.
The court also sought an action taken report from the DIG on cases lodged in connection with recovery of expired or fake medicines across the state.
On January 19, the high court had wanted to know from the state government why the probe into medicine scam should not be handed over to CBI. Chief Justice Menon had asked the record section of the high court to hand over all documents related to the scam to CBI for preliminary study.
On Thursday, advocate general Lalit Kishore, while appearing for the state, informed the court that four special investigation teams - two each under city SP (east) and city SP (central) - were formed to probe the medicine scam. However, the court, which was not satisfied with the reply, sought a counter affidavit from the government.
Kishore said drug inspector Sachchidanand Prasad, who had unearthed the scam, was not transferred, but instead given additional charge of one more post in Bihar Drug Control Laboratory (BDCL). It was brought to the notice of the court during the last hearing that Prasad was transferred by the health department. The court had sought a reply from the health department on the issue.
