Delhi Police bust spurious drug racket; unearth manufacturing unit, arrest two

New Delhi, Dec 14 The Cyber Cell of the Crime Branch, Delhi Police, has busted a major and highly organised racket involved in the manufacture, repackaging and nationwide sale of spurious Schedule-H medicines, recovering counterfeit drugs and related material worth over Rs 2.3 crore, the officials said on Sunday.  

Two accused have been arrested in connection with the case.

The arrested persons have been identified as Gaurav Bhagat, a resident of Meerpur Hindu village in Loni, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Shree Ram alias Vishal Gupta, a resident of Nirmal Vihar, Sabhapur, Delhi.

Police said the operation was conducted under the leadership of Inspector Manjeet Kumar and supervised by ACP Anil Sharma.

Acting on specific secret information and sustained ground-level intelligence supported by technical surveillance, the Cyber Cell conducted a raid at Teliwara in Sadar Bazar, one of Delhi’s major wholesale pharmaceutical and cosmetic markets.

“During the raid, the Cyber Cell team recovered a large quantity of counterfeit Schedule-H ointments from Sadar Bazar. The recovered counterfeit medicines included Betnovate-C and Clop-G. These medicines are widely used for treating sports injuries and skin allergies, making their spurious circulation extremely dangerous for unsuspecting consumers,” the Delhi Police said in a press note.

Based on follow-up intelligence, the police subsequently traced the source of the spurious medicines to a manufacturing unit operating in Meerpur Hindu village, Loni.

A raid at the unit led to the recovery of huge quantities of finished counterfeit medicines, raw chemicals, packing material and manufacturing machinery. The action was carried out in the presence of Drug Inspectors and authorised representatives of the concerned pharmaceutical companies.

Drug Inspectors from the North and Central Zones of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh conducted spot inspections and drew samples, which were later confirmed to be counterfeit.

“They confirmed that the seized medicines were counterfeit, were neither manufactured nor supplied by their companies, and that the accused persons did not possess any valid licence to manufacture, store, or sell such medicines,” the police said.

An FIR dated December 12 was registered at the Crime Branch police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

Further raids are underway to identify and dismantle the entire supply chain, said DCP Aditya Gautam.

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