Nagpur: FDA busts bogus medicine racket, seizes 21,600 'antibiotic' tablets in hospital raid

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The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) busted a counterfeit medication enterprise, seizing 21,600 tablets mislabeled as the antibiotic ciprofloxacin from a government hospital in Nagpur. Three people have been charged, including a Thane resident who was previously incarcerated in a related crime.

FDA officials stated that the counterfeit drug, which was obtained under a government contract last year, was recently discovered at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital. This hospital provides medications to state-run facilities in the district, reported PTI.

According to the report, the phoney ciprofloxacin tablets, worth billions of rupees, were delivered to many government hospitals in Maharashtra. In March 2023, the FDA took samples at a state-run healthcare institution in Kalmeshwar tehsil, around 40 kilometres from Nagpur. Following testing at a government lab in Mumbai, which yielded results in December 2023, it was discovered that the tablets lacked any therapeutic value because they contained no ciprofloxacin.

Following this disclosure, FDA investigators raided Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital's store in Nagpur, seizing 21,600 tablets of the same brand. Investigations revealed that the counterfeit medicine was manufactured by a non-existent company called 'Refined Pharma, Gujarat', the report added.

According to the report, the Kalmeshwar police have charged Vijay Shailendra Choudhary of Thane, Hemant Dhondiba Mule of Latur, and Mihir Trivedi of Bhiwandi near Thane in connection with this case. Choudhary, the main accused, is already in jail for a previous counterfeit drug sale case. Choudhary sent the tablets to Trivedi, who forwarded them to Mule for distribution to government facilities.

Meanwhile, in another case, Kandivali Police in Mumbai busted a gang who allegedly tampered with medical reports in Shatabdi Hospital and turned minor injuries into serious cases for financial gains. Four persons were arrested in relation to the same case.

The accused included Vasu Thombre (27), Babu Nisaar Sayed alias Babu Langda (37), Abdul Hameed Khan (purported patient), and Sameer Ishtiyaqe Husain. One of the hospital security personnel who is also involved in the crime is on the run.

An official from Kandivali police station said that Babu was an alleged mastermind and was working as an attendant in a government ambulance at Bhagwati Hospital. He had colluded with Thombre a contracted worker at Shatabdi Hospital.