The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant bail to paediatrician Praveen Soni, who was arrested in October last year for allegedly continuing to prescribe Coldrif cough syrup linked to the deaths of 26 children in Madhya Pradesh, observing that the case was too serious to warrant his release at this stage.
Investigations subsequently revealed the presence of diethylene glycol (DEG), a toxic industrial solvent, in alarmingly high concentrations in samples of the medicine. When Dave argued that his client had only prescribed the medicine and was neither its manufacturer nor involved in its production, the bench underscored the gravity of the allegations, particularly given his professional qualifications. “Children died…it is very serious. Twenty-six children died. The fact that you are a qualified doctor is all the more serious,” remarked the bench. However, the syrup allegedly continued to be prescribed even as more cases emerged. The prosecution has alleged that Soni’s wife, Jyoti Soni, who was working at Apna Medical Store, a pharmacy owned by her husband and located adjacent to his clinic, sold the syrup without prescriptions. Soni’s defence has maintained that he was neither the manufacturer nor involved in the production of the syrup, which was manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals Ltd under a valid licence.
Soni, who was posted at the Civil Hospital in Parasia in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, was arrested on October 5, 2025, following a complaint by the block medical officer, Dr Ankit Sehlam. He faces charges under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), as well as provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The first child death linked to Coldrif was reported in Chhindwara on September 4, 2025. It further alleged that Soni received a 10% commission on every bottle prescribed, while the pharmacy earned a profit of ₹ 23 per bottle, pointing to an alleged arrangement between the couple to prescribe and sell the medicine. His counsel also argued that the medicine had not been banned when it was prescribed and relied on the Supreme Court’s 2005 judgment in Jacob Mathew v State of Punjab, which laid down safeguards against criminal prosecution of medical practitioners without appropriate expert opinion.
Children between two and four years of age were prescribed the syrup by Soni, following which they developed acute kidney injuries and were referred to a medical college hospital in Nagpur, where several died, according to the prosecution.
