Check that medicine again: Probe reveals how fake companies are flooding market with ineffective tablets with no active pharmaceutical ingredient

Investigations into the multicrore spurious drug racketmdashwhere fake medicines worth R185 crore were seized in Thane over last few monthsmdashhave revealed a shocking fact medicines supplied to government hospitals in Nagpur lacked Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients API the key component that makes medicines effective Without API these drugs cannot cure patients However Food and Drug Authority FDA labs only screen for API and do not analyse other ingredients FDA officials citied workload constraints as the reason behind itAnil Mhaske deputy superintendent of police Saoner Division Nagpur Rural PicsNagpur rural policeLast year a raid at an animal feed factory in Haridwar uncovered raw materials like talcum powder starch magnesium and calciummdashbelieved to be used in manufacturing these spurious drugs While typically harmless as excipients in genuine medicines their impact in fake tablets remains unknownFlash backThe racket busted by Nagpur Rural police supplied counterfeit medicines to hospitals in Maharashtra Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand using forged documents like Good Manufacturing Practices GMP certificates and fake GST bills These fake drugs were distributed to civic hospitals and wholesalers in Bhiwandi Thane Nanded and other areas since 2021Cabhis Generic House in Mira Road PicsNagpur rural policeAnil Mhaske deputy superintendent of police Saoner Division Nagpur Rural said ldquoIn 2022 FDA drug inspectors collected samples from Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital Bhiwandi which tested spurious as the drug lsquoFormox 250rsquo lacked API A case was registered and the mastermind Vijay Shailendra Chaudhary 32 was arrested He claimed to have sourced the fake drugs from Kanpur but later jumped bail stalling the proberdquoDiscovery of scamCase 1In August 2023 Drug Inspector Nitin Bhandarkar of FDA Nagpur collected samples of Reclav625 an antibiotic containing Amoxicillin and Potassium Clavulanate from Government Medical College Hospital Nagpur which provides free treatment to over 2500 underprivileged patients daily The FDA Mumbai lab found the tablets lacked API with the report issued in August 2024Case 2In February 2023 Bhandarkars team collected samples of Recip500 Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride from the Rural Tehsil Hospital in Kalmeshwar Nagpur A December 2023 FDA lab report confirmed the tablets contained no API Investigations revealed the civil surgeon Nagpur had floated tenders through the Gem Portal to procure these emergency drugsBefore test results 77000 Reclav625 tablets and 4 lakh Recip500 tablets had been distributed across hospitals with 55000 Recip500 tablets given to Government Medical College Hospital patients After confirmation of spurious drugs 22000 Recip500 tablets were seized by Bhandarkars teamLeft Vijay Shailendra Choudhary along with Raman TanejaCommon threadldquoIt was during the inquiry in Case 1 that we found Ms Vishal Enterprises Kolhapur had won the tender and supplied Reclav625 tabletsrdquo said FDA Drug Inspector Nitin Bhandarkar ldquoThey sourced the drugs from Ms Pharmacis Biotech Surat which procured them from Ms Activentis Biotech Pvt Ltd Narpoli Bhiwandi owned by Mihir Trivedi Trivedi in turn had bought the tablets from Cabhis Generic House Mira Roadrdquo he addedSimilarly in Case 2 the tender for Ciprofloxacin500 tablets Recip500 was won by Ms Jaya Enterprises Latur ldquoThey procured the tablets from Activentis Biotech which sourced them from Cabhis Generic House owned by Vijay Choudhary 32 who was earlier arrested in a similar caserdquo Bhandarkar explainedThe investigation team being felicitatedNonexistent pharma companiesThe investigation revealed that the pharma companies printed on the drug boxes were fake Reclav625 was falsely labelled as manufactured by Ms Mrystal Formulations Kotdwar Uttarakhand and Recip500 by Ms Refant Pharma Pvt Ltd MIDC Kerala ldquoBoth companies and addresses were bogus and batch numbers on the packaging were fakerdquo said senior FDA officialsMandatory documents including GMP COA and GST bills were also forgedBhandarkar registered two FIRs against the accused for supplying spurious medicines using fake documents one with Ajni police station Case 1 and another with Kalmeshwar Rural police station Case 2 Fresh FIRs have also been lodged in Thane Nagpur Nanded and Wardha for similar offences including fresh cases registered two weeks ago in AmbeJogai in Beed District and Dhrasiv district earlier OsmanabadSpecial police teamRealising the gravity of the case SP Harshh Poddar Nagpur Rural transferred the investigation to DySP Anil Mhaske and his teamldquoVijay Choudhary of Mira Road initially misled us claiming he procured medicines online through Gagan Singh owner of Ms K P Medical Agency in Haryanardquo said DySP MhaskeTo prove his point Choudhary filed a police complaint with the MiraBhayandar police against Gagan Singh for not returning to him the Rs 4 lakh that the latter owed him He also produced GST paid bills for procuring the medicines from Ms K P Medical agencyldquoHowever our team found the address to be fake and Choudharyrsquos claims were disproven His anticipatory bail plea was rejected and he was taken into custodyrdquo he addedIn police custodyDuring interrogation Choudhary revealed he had sourced fake medicines from Saharanpurbased brothers Robin and Raman Taneja who were later arrested The Tanejas admitted to procuring drugs from Amit Dhiman owner of Ms Dwarika Natural Formulations Haridwar Dhimanrsquos unit which produced animal feed and spurious medicines was raided in August 2023 and large quantities of raw materials were seized Dhiman remains in custody of Haridwar Police and is presently lodged in Central Jail HaridwarSyndicatersquos operationsldquoThe accused manufactured fake medicines like Ciprofloxacin Amoxicillin and Azithromycin under bogus pharma brands such as Ms Evertouch Bio Remedies and Ms Refant Pharmardquo Mhaske said ldquoThey cheated the public and endangered lives for financial gainrdquoA 1200page chargesheet was filed recently ldquoWe traced a money trail of over R4 crore and the hawala route cannot be ruled out The Enforcement Directorate ED has been informed to probe furtherrdquo Mhaske addedChallenges facedMhaske noted the difficulty in pursuing the case due to lenient punishment under IPC Section 276 making it bailable ldquoWe overcame this by proving the accused used forged GMP COA and GST documents enabling us to charge them under IPC Sections 467 and 468 for forgery which carry severe penaltiesrdquo he explainedAnother challenge was Choudharyrsquos evasive replies and the lack of initial cyber forensic efforts ldquoWe retrieved crucial data from his devices with help from cyber police and tech companies which helped us connect the dotsrdquo Mhaske saidWhat nextThe probe has now focused on district civil surgeons and hospital pharmacists to determine their involvementNagpur Rural police who have already arrested six people are preparing a second chargesheet This will include forensic audits analysis of seized devices and the drug inspectorrsquos report to file charges under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act which could raise the punishment to 10 years or more said DySP Anil MhaskeWe have managed to retrieve some of the documents that the accused tried to destroy and fresh evidence is getting collected in similar cases reported from Kolhapur So far ten to eleven FIRs are registered against the accused at different police stations across Maharashtra and the mastermind in all these cases is Vijay Choudhary Mihir Trivedi Raman Taneja and Robin As they are involved in multiple cases we are also contemplating applying MCOCA in future against the accused said DY SP Mhaske speaking to midday yesterday December 29Statement to copsAmit Sureshchandra Dhiman 37Residence Matalpur Roorkee HaridwarDhiman admitted to manufacturing spurious medicines at his factory Ms Dwarika Natural Formulations Haridwar He initially made animal feed supplements but later agreed to produce fake medicines including Azhitro 500 tablets on orders from Robin alias Himanshu Taneja He procured raw materials and packaging locally and used his factory machinery for productionVijay Shailendra Choudhary 32Residence Mira Road MumbaiChoudhary owns Cabhis Generic Home Pharmaceuticals He sourced medicines from Robin paid via angadias or online transfers and supplied them to retailers and companies like Ms Activentis Biotech Pvt Ltd He also received forged GMP and COA documents from Robin to supply Ciprofloxacin Recip 500 tablets to government hospitalsRaman Kumar Taneja 36Residence Saharanpur UPRaman confessed to helping his elder brother Robin in supplying spurious medicines Robin sourced the drugs and handled sales while Raman occasionally assisted He revealed that Vijay Choudhary and his father visited their home and transferred money to their family accounts Raman denied direct knowledge of Robinrsquos suppliers but was aware of police raids on other accused