Safdarjung doctor held in fake Viagra racket

200 kg spurious drug recovered from unit owned by doctor

Safdarjung doctor held in fake Viagra racket

200 kg spurious drug recovered from unit owned by doctor

Was a resident doctor of Safdarjung Hospital involved in aiding her husband manufacture fake Viagra at a

manufacturing unit in Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon? The Haryana police think so. The police team that busted the racket on Sunday are questioning the wife of SC Bhardwaj, owner of the unit.

The Haryana police in a joint raid with a private investigating agency EIPR (Enforcers of Intellectual Property Rights) raided the manufacturing unit and seized around 200 kilogrammes of fake Viagra.

"I cannot say anything at the moment," said Manjeet Singh Ahlawat, joint commissioner of police, Gurgaon, adding that investigations in the case are on.u00a0

The drug control department in Gurgaon had also raided the factory in July last year. Inspector Rakesh Dahiya of the drug control department, who was a member of the raiding team said: "Last July we had raided the factory and recovered around 2 lakh tablets of ciprofloxacin. We had then cancelled the licence of the unit but Bhardwaj started his business again."

"We sealed the factory today," Dahiya said. Dhirendra Singh, one of the investigating officers from EIPR, said fake Viagra tablets were being recovered from Mumbai and Delhi.

"The fake drugs that were being manufactured were sent to cities like Mumbai. They were selling fake Viagra at half the original price," said Singh. Documents recovered also hint that the spurious drugs were being exported too. The police have registered a case and the accused have been arrested.

A potent drug

Apart from its most popular use to cure erectile dysfunction or impotence, sildenafil citrate (sold as Viagra) is also effective in the rare disease pulmonary arterial hypertension and prevention and treatment of high altitude pulmonary edema associated with altitude sickness such as that suffered by mountain climbers.

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