New Delhi: In a major catch, the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police have busted an international racket of spurious life-saving drugs, the officials informed on Tuesday.
The Crime Branch nabbed 7 accused persons identified as Dr Pabitra Narayan Pardhan (34) Shubham Manna (29), Pankaj Singh Bohra (27), Ankit Sharma aka Anku aka Bhajji (26), Ram Kumar aka Harbir (43), Aekansh Verma (27) and Parbhat Kumar (45).
Accused Pabitra Pradhan and Shubham Manna are residents of Noida, UP, while Pankaj Bohara is a native of Pithoragarh of Uttarakhand, Ankit Sharma aka Akku is a resident of South Delhi's Neb Sarai, Ram Kumar is from Gannaur of Haryana, Aekansh Verma is from Chandigarh and Parbhat Kumar is a resident of Vasundhara Ghaziabad.
According to the Special Commissioner of Police Crime Branch Ravindra Singh Yadav, "There were some vital inputs at ISC Crime Branch, Delhi regarding involvements of an international gang in manufacturing-cum supplying spurious life-saving cancer drugs. These individuals indulged in inter-state dealings and pan-India involvement in supplying counterfeit life-saving drugs, for a long. "The accused were making profit out of the illness and misery of cancer patients, selling them false hopes by providing fake drugs, with no active ingredients and playing with the precious lives of innocent persons who were already suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer."
The fake cancer medicines worth Rs 8 crore have also been recovered from their godowns, the Crime Branch claimed.
During the investigation, the police learnt that accused Pradhan and Subham were operating their godown from Ghaziabad from where the fake medicines were delivered across the country. The first arrest in the case was made from the outside area of Pragati Maidan where Pankaj Bohra came to deliver medicine on a two-wheeler. At his instance, Pradhan and other accused were held from Noida, the official said.
"During the interrogation of the accused persons, it was revealed that Dr Pabitra Narayan Pardhan completed his MBBS in China in the year 2012. During the MBBS course, his batch-mate, Dr Rasel (native of Bangladesh) intimated that he can provide the API (Actual Pharmaceutical Ingredients) required to manufacture spurious medicines used in the treatment of Cancer", Yadav mentioned.
"He further said that the afore-said medicines have a high demand in the markets of India and China and are highly expensive. By selling these spurious medicines, they can earn huge amounts of money. Dr Anil, who is their friend and who also completed MBBS in China, also agreed to supply such spurious medicines through his contact in India and China. Later, Dr Pabitra involved his cousin Shubham Manna and other associates and started manufacturing spurious medicines meant for the treatment of cancer," Special CP Crime said.