Mithilesh Yadav worked full time for a leading pharma company and also at a medical store for five years before FDA officers got wise to his ways. He has now been arrested and sent to police custody
The Food and Drugs Administration’s ( FDA) insistence that every medical store have a pharmacist, has led some stores and even pharmacists, to adopt unique methods to earn a living.
The license of one such ‘enterprising’ pharmacist, who was nabbed by FDA officials during a routine check earlier this year to practice formally was cancelled last week.
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Mithilesh Yadav (inset) was arrested after he was found drawing salary from Laxmi Medical Stores in Kandivli as well as from a pharmaceutical company where he was employed
Twenty- eight year-old Mithilesh Yadav, a Kandivli resident, was caught red-handed by the Drug Inspector of Zone 7 on March 30. After this the officials conducted an inspection and ordered the cancellation of Yadav’s licence in September. The licence was finally cancelled on October 15.
Yadav was working as a bona fide sales officer at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. But simultaneously he was working as a full- time pharmacist at Laxmi Medical Stores in Kandivli. When FDA officials visited the store on March 30 they found the pharmacist of the store absent. “ We found that the shop was operating in the absence of a pharmacist. And this was the not the first time that we didn’t see the pharmacist in the shop. We figured something was wrong. Our investigations showed Yadav held a full- time job with Glenmark,” explained Pratap War, the drug inspector of Zone 7. FDA officials then coordinated with Glenmark and asked executives there to confirm whether Yadav was working in their organisation. Once they received a letter confirming that Yadav worked at Glenmark as a sales officer, a First Information Report ( FIR) was lodged at the Samta Nagar Police Station. “We lodged an FIR not only against Yadav but also against the owner of Laxmi Medical Store, as they too were aware of Yadav being a full- time employee with the pharmaceutical company,” said Shailesh Kale, joint commissioner, Vigilance FDA.
Yadav was apparently working in the medical store since 2006 and joined Glenmark in 2008. As per law, whenever a pharmacist shifts from a medical store to another place, either the shop owner or the pharmacist himself is supposed to inform the FDA. However, in this case none of the two informed the officials.
Cop speak
Inspector Nilesh Bagav, Investigating Officer, Samta Nagar Police Station, told SUNDAY MiD DAY, “ An FIR has been lodged against the owners and the pharmacist and they were charged under IPC Section 18 ( a) ( VI), 18, 181, 199, 200 and 420. They were produced in the holiday court this morning and sent to police custody.”
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