NEW DELHI: Three employees of a Noida- based pharma firm, whose cough syrup allegedly killed 18 children in Uzbekistan last year, were on Friday arrested on charges of production and sale of adulterated drugs.
The arrests were made after an FIR was lodged late Thursday night against five officials of Marion Biotech, including its two directors, following a complaint by a drugs inspector of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
The Central and Uttar Pradesh drug authorities had checked samples of Marion Biotech products and found 22 of them to be “not of standard quality” (adulterated and spurious), according to the complainant drug inspector.
Rajiv Dixit, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Noida), said: “Three persons associated with Marion Biotech were today arrested by the local Phase 3 police station officials. These people were engaged in preparation and sale of fake drugs which caused serious harm to the public.” The two directors of the unit are on the run.
The police identified the arrested persons as Tuhin Bhattacharya, head of the operation; Atul Rawat, manufacturing chemist; and Mool Singh, analytical chemist.