Major fake medicine racket with Odisha link busted in Varanasi

Following a tip-off from the Odisha Police, the Uttar Pradesh STF on Thursday busted a major fake medicine manufacturing racket in Sigra near Varanasi which used to supply counterfeit and spurious drugs in the name of branded medicines.

The kingpin Ashok Kumar who hails from UP’s Bulandsahar, has been arrested.

Fake medicine brands that were made by this gang included Monocef O, Gabapin NT, Clavam 625, Pan D, Pan 40, Cef AZ, Taxim O, and the market value of the medicines recovered from the place is estimated to be around Rs 7.35 crore.

Recently, some spurious medicines were seized from a distributor at Town Hall Road under Purighat Police limits of Cuttack. After the recovery of the fake drugs, police detained the proprietor of the drug distribution firm, identified as Bijay Agarwal.

Apparently, the distributor procured the fake drugs from other states, particularly from Uttar Pradesh, and sold them in the city.

Earlier, spurious blood pressure medicines 'Telma 40' and Telma AM were seized in Cuttack. Two accused allegedly involved in supplying spurious hypertension medicines to distributors in Cuttack, were arrested from Bihar.

The fake drug sale case had also reached the Orissa High Court with a public interest litigation (PIL) being filed seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).