The Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police arrested four persons from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh in connection with supplying fake medicines to dealers in Odisha.
The arrested persons have been identified as Subham Jaiswal, Ritesh Kumar, Chandrasekhar Singh, and Gaurav Sharma.
The accused have been brought to Odisha on remand after being produced at a Varanasi court.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Drugs Controller of Bargarh in Odisha had filed a complaint in January about spurious drugs being sold in the district, following which an FIR was lodged against Sunil Agrawal from Bargarh, Subham Jaiswal from Varanasi, Jyoti Jyoti from Varanasi and Abhishek Kumar Singh from Varanasi.
In March, the Uttar Pradesh STF 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 Bulandsahr, was 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 was estimated to be around Rs 7.35 crore.
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.