The SIT investigating the alleged fake pharmaceutical racket helmed by a former medical representative based in Karnataka has said that the probe traced overseas links in Turkiye who supplied original Pfizer labels used to package the contraband.
They also arrested four people. The SIT was formed two days later to investigate the wider network. The 36-year-old alleged mastermind, R Prashanth Ranjan Babu, was arrested after landing at Kempegowda International Airport on September 28. The case surfaced on August 18, when Karnataka’s Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) and Tavarekere police raided farmhouses in the Bidadi and Dodderi areas of Bengaluru South and seized suspected spurious medicines, fake bills, injection filling equipment and counterfeit labels worth around ₹ 5 crore.
“We have not concluded that the drug material came from Turkiye.
Our investigation shows procurement of the material from several places within India, while the labels formed a separate part of the operation,” an officer said.
Investigators said Prashanth established the firm in 2021. He had worked as a medical representative for more than 10 years in Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai. On October 6, the court stayed the FSDA orders cancelling the licence of Fortune Medical Solutions and suspending the licence of Vivanta Pharmaceuticals, allowing them to continue their pharmaceutical distribution business pending further proceedings.
The investigation has since expanded across the supply chain, with seven people arrested, including Veeresh Kumar Jain and Balasubramanya, a Chennai based associate and partner in DM Pharma alongside Prashanth’s wife Priyanka. Investigators believe his experience gave him knowledge of hospital demand, drug prices, distribution channels and profit margins. The regulatory action has now reached the state high court. Bank transactions involving the companies and people under investigation were also being examined.
Investigators said the SIT was now matching purchases, sales, stock received and stock dispatched to reconstruct the movement of the suspected medicines.
