Chalk powder drugs: Telangana DCA busts fake medicines’ manufacturer in Uttarakhand

Hyderabad: In a breakthrough on the illegal manufacturing and supply of spurious or counterfeit drugs, a joint operation conducted by the Drug Control Administration (DCA), Telangana, Commissioner’s Task Force, Hyderabad, and Malakpet Police, busted an inter-state network operating from a pharma factory named Nectar Herbs and Drugs, located in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand.

The unit was found to be manufacturing counterfeit or spurious drugs and distributing them to several states, including Telangana. The officers seized stocks worth a total of Rs 44.33 lakhs during the raid at Nectar Herbs and Drugs in Uttarakhand.

Director General of DCA, VB Kamalasan Reddy explained the details of the inter-state operation named Operation Jai. The operation led to the busting of a spurious drug manufacturing unit in Kotdwar. Jaya Baloni, superintendent of police, Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, provided the required assistance to the officers from Telangana in completing the special operation in Uttarakhand.

Operation Jai

On February 27, acting on intelligence gathered regarding the movement of spurious drugs, DCA, Telangana and officers from the Commissioner’s Task Force, Hyderabad, raided a place in Malakpet. During the raid, DCA officials found three cartons containing a total of 27,200 tablets of the spurious antibiotic ‘MPOD-200 Tablets’ (Cefpodoxime Proxetil and Lactic Acid Bacillus tablets), worth Rs 7.34 lakhs. These tablets were labelled as manufactured by Meg Lifesciences with the address ‘Khasra No 47/5, Palli Gaon, District Sirmour, 173 001.’ During the investigation, it was found that Meg Lifesciences doesn’t exist.

A person named Aravapalli Satyanarayana was caught selling spurious drug stocks to Vangari Naveen near Moosarambagh X Roads. Upon enquiry, Satyanarayana revealed that he had purchased the spurious medicines from Gandla Ramulu of Meerpet. Officers then apprehended Satyanarayana, Naveen and Ramulu.

During interrogation, Ramulu revealed that the spurious drugs were received from Vishad Kumar of Kotdwar, Uttarakhand. He further disclosed that Vishad Kumar manufactures spurious drugs at his company, Nectar Herbs and Drugs in Kotdwar, along with a person named Sachin Kumar. Ramulu admitted to placing orders for spurious drugs to Sachin Kumar and Vishad Kumar through WhatsApp calls.

Acting on the latest information from the arrested, a joint action team was soon formed by the DCA, Commissioner’s Task Force and Malakpet Police. The team proceeded to Uttarakhand to trace the manufacturing location of spurious or counterfeit drugs. They kept vigil on the manufacturing facility of Nectar Herbs and Drugs located in Kotdwar.

A surprise raid was conducted on February 29, during which the manufacturing of counterfeit or spurious Cefixime Tablets IP 200 mg, falsely claimed as ‘Omnicef-O 200 Tablets,’ was detected. The drug was falsely labelled as manufactured by Aristo Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, bearing Batch No BPF232040 with a manufacturing date of June 2023 and an expiry date of May 2025.

Chalk powder used to create ‘medicines’ sold with fake labels

Sachin Kumar of Roorkee, Uttarakhand was the mastermind behind the manufacturing of spurious drugs. He brought fake labels (pre-printed aluminium foils and other packing materials) of reputable companies to Nectar Herbs and Drugs in Kotdwar, Uttarakhand, in his vehicle along with three workers.

Sachin Kumar had the counterfeit labels, including aluminium foils and cartons, manufactured at Vaishnavi Printers (Vaishnavi Printing Press) in Bhagwanpur, Roorkee, Uttarakhand.

Vishad Kumar, the CEO of Nectar Herbs and Drugs, allowed Sachin Kumar to manufacture spurious drugs at his manufacturing facility for a payment of Rs 35,000 for 1,00,000 dummy tablets. Bhavana, a worker at Nectar Herbs and Drugs, manufactured dummy tablets with chalk powder upon intimation from Sachin Kumar.

Sachin Kumar packed the dummy tablets with the labels of the reputed company Aristo, falsely claiming them to be the antibiotic drug ‘Cefixime’.

During interrogation, Sachin Kumar revealed that he manufactured counterfeit or spurious drugs of reputed companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Alkem, Aristo and Cipla. Counterfeits of Augmentin-625, Clavam-625, Omnicef-O 200, Montair-LC, etc., were manufactured by Sachin Kumar at Nectar Herbs and Drugs, Uttarakhand. Sachin Kumar also admitted that he received orders regarding spurious drugs from Gandla Ramulu of Hyderabad.

“Sachin Kumar and Vishad Kumar, who are the prime accused in the spurious drug manufacturing case, were apprehended by the special team. The special team has made inter-state arrests and a case has been registered against the offenders. Further investigation will be carried out and action will be taken as per the law against all the offenders,” said Kamalasan Reddy.

Officers seized the 38,350 tablets (3,835 strips) of counterfeit Omnicef-O 200 tablets (Cefixime tablets IP 200 mg) falsely labelled as manufactured by Aristo Pharmaceuticals, 60.27 kg of orange coloured tablets, 65.27 kg of white coloured tablets, 30.18 kg of counterfeit Omnicef-O 200 aluminium foil, 33.45 kg of counterfeit Omnicef-O 200 cartons (packing material).