CH NEWS,
BENGALURU
Karnataka government plans an SIT probe into a suspected spurious drug network uncovered during a raid near Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The Karnataka government is likely to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising police officers and health officials, to investigate the supply chain of spurious drugs seized at Bidadi near Bengaluru.
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), acting on a tip-off, raided a farmhouse at Kurubarakeranahalli and uncovered an unlicensed pharmaceutical repacking and re-labelling operation. Officials seized drugs worth around Rs 5 crore.
According to the department, the spurious drugs were supplied from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana. At the farmhouse, the drugs were allegedly filled into new vials and re-labelled to resemble expensive multinational brands, including Pfizer, Eucratia Healthcare Private Ltd and Welcure Remedies.
Officials said the seized drugs either contained no active medicinal ingredients, wrong ingredients or potentially harmful substances. The scanning codes printed on the labels were also found to be non-functional.
The farmhouse is owned by Siddaiah and was reportedly leased to Prashanth, who resides in Dubai. The operation was allegedly run by Tejas, while police have arrested Prabhu Dev Gowda, one of the workers at the facility.
However, officials are yet to identify the pharmacies, hospitals and other establishments where the counterfeit drugs may have been supplied.
Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader said he had spoken to the Home Minister about setting up the SIT. He said the investigation would examine the logistics, middlemen and entire supply chain and that other states would also be alerted.
Khader said similar operations could be taking place elsewhere in Karnataka and assured that the matter would be thoroughly investigated.
