The central unit of the Crime Branch has arrested eight people, including five medicine suppliers, for selling drugs meant for the Defence, ESIC and other government hospitals in the country. The arrests were made since March 6 and all the accused have been remanded in judicial custody.
Tushar Doshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, said, “This racket is huge and investigations are on. There will be more arrests. Our officers have visited Delhi, Agra and Haryana so far. We are yet to identify the source.”
On March 6, the Crime Branch officers arrested Mahesh Shivshankar Nagansure (36), Sachin Vishnu Vadaskar (29) and Sachin Puruahottam Baldava (37), who were employed by Samarth distribution at Sector 5 in Sanpada. They told the police that they received medicines from Pune. The team then visited Pune and arrested Neerajkumar Jitendrakumar Singh (26) of Royal Pharma. He revealed that he received medicines from Sanjay Fattechand Garg (49), who ran Vishal Pharma in Delhi. The police then arrested Tarun Bishandas Madan (30), who ran Satguru Pharma at Sonipath in Haryana. The probe led the team to Agra and Harprasad Shyambabu Gupta (47) of Hindustan Medico distributors and Shivam Anil Gupta (26) from Uttar Pradesh were arrested.
A Crime Branch officer said, “Twelve batches of Galvus 50 mg manufactured by Novartis were seized by the Food and Drugs Administration. The accused used to erase the ‘not for sale’ or ‘for defence’ stamp and distribute the medicines in different States. The medicines were meant to be given free of cost to patients in government hospitals. The accused circulated the medicines without a bill and split the profits. We are also gathering documents as evidence to prove the crime before the court.” Two separate teams of the Crime Branch will be following some new leads next week and conducting raids, the police said.
The accused have been charged under Sections 420,463,465,468 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.