BENGALURU : The first clue in Karnataka’s suspected fake drug racket was found not in a hospital or pharmacy, in a field.
A labourer in C K Tandya village near Dodderi in Ramanagara district noticed discarded medicine waste, including vials, tubes and packets containing some powder. He alerted a police constable, who visited the area, collected samples and passed the information to senior officers. Investigators suspected that cheaper medicines were being transferred into fresh vials and relabelled as expensive pharmaceutical brands. The equipment and labels provided investigators with an initial picture of the alleged operation. Officials suspected that medicines were being transferred into new vials, relabelled and returned to the pharmaceutical supply chain. Investigators later learnt that he had left India for Azerbaijan, they added. Its owner, licensed pharmacist Veeresh Kumar Jain, was arrested. Hospitals, nursing homes and other clinical establishments were directed not to administer medicines identified in the seizures.
The tip led investigators on August 18 to an unlicensed facility at Kurubarakeranahalli, near the Bidadi toll gate. They seized medicines worth ₹ 4.91 crore, along with expired stock, injection filling equipment, packaging material and forged labels, superintendent of police, Ramanagara district, R Srinivas Gowda said. The biggest seizure comprised 5,640 vials labelled as Cefiavigent 2.5 injections, which police said was priced at ₹ 3.38 crore. Medicines bought for around ₹ 600 to ₹ 700 a vial were allegedly sold for several thousand rupees after relabelling. The scale of the seizure led to a warning by Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader: “If one day we get almost ₹ 5 crore worth of fake drugs, I wonder how many crores worth of fake drugs are already among people. The inquiry took another turn on September 11, when the SIT and Drugs Control Department raided Krupa Healthcare near Minerva Circle in Bengaluru. The suspected distribution network was believed to have reached more than 90 hospitals and clinics in Bengaluru, while more than 15 medical representatives came under scrutiny.
“Some of the injectable antibiotics recovered are used against serious bacterial infections, including pneumonia, complicated urinary and abdominal infections and infections involving drug resistant bacteria,” a health department official said. Four people were arrested in the first operation: Venkatesh, proprietor of Bangalore Special Life in Chamrajpet; Tejas, the warehouse manager and a relative of R Prashant; and workers Prabhudeva Gowda and Naveen Kumar, the SP said. R Prashant, a medical representative linked to the Bidadi premises, emerged as a key accused and suspected kingpin, according to police. The state health minister said he has written to the Union health minister seeking the deputation of a central drug surveillance officer to assist in the investigation. “Since the value of the seized drugs exceeds ₹ 5 crore, the Centre may also order a CBI probe,” he added.
On Tuesday, Karnataka government had shared the inventory of suspected spurious and counterfeit medicines with the Union government and other states.
