01 April,2015 08:28 AM IST | | Shiva Devnath
Notorious doctor, Munir Khan, who had earlier been arrested for making tall claims about a ‘cure-all’ tonic, was caught selling the drug to the FDA in a sting operation
Undeterred by past FDA raids and police investigations, self-proclaimed scientist and miracle doctor Munir Khan has been arrested for the second time after he was found to be peddling his âcure-all' tonic, Body Revival.
Munir Khan claimed that his tonic, Body Revival, could cure anything, from cancer to AIDS to heart ailments. He was arrested in 2010 and again yesterday, after he was found to be selling the fake drug
Despite several ongoing cases and investigations against him and his fake panacea, Khan was found to be operating from his customary office in Versova. Khan was first arrested in 2010, after several of his patients complained that he had duped them with a fake tonic, prompting the FDA to conduct a raid.
During the court case, many were amazed to learn that although Khan charged Rs 15,750 per bottle claiming it could cure any illness, be it cancer, AIDS, heart problems or hypertension the contents were pretty ordinary and had no real medicinal content.
Despite this, however, when the FDA conducted another sting operation recently, it discovered that the ill-reputed doctor was still making tall claims about the âwonder drug' and was selling it from his Versova office.
FDA commissioner Harshdeep Kamble said, "We had some intelligence about Khan. Our officials reached his clinic at Excellency Premises, Patel Nagar, Versova and claimed to be suffering from a heart ailment.
He checked them and gave tonic bottles for Rs 15,750 each. After testing the tonic, we found that medicinal component was missing in the tonic. We filed another FIR on March 29." Another FDA official said, "Every day more than 30 people were visiting Khan's clinic for the tonic.
He was still placing ads in newspapers and on TV channels." The Versova police arrested him yesterday, after the FDA seized 2,100 tonic bottles worth over R3.3 crore. The raid has raised serious questions over the police's inability to keep tabs on Khan's operations despite his history.
Khan was earlier producing and selling the tonic under a licence from Rajasthan, which was scrapped after he was arrested. This time round, he was using a Himachal Pradesh licence, and the FDA officials will now write to the state asking that it scrap the permit.
Khan was booked under the IPC, as well as under The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 read along with the Medical Practitioners Act, 1961. He was produced in the court and remanded to police custody till April 4.
