VIJAYAWADA: Cracking down on the gang in the spurious drug racket case busted in One Town (Vijayawada) and Guntur on November 16, Commissioner’s Task Force and Drug Control Administration (DCA) conducted a joint investigation and arrested the kingpin and other accused from Roorkee in Uttarakhand and produced them before the media on Monday. From the accused, the police seized fake tablets worth `60 lakh and machinery worth Rs 2 crore.
Addressing the media, Police Commissioner D Gautam Sawang said that the kingpin behind the racket Vishal Ansane (B Pharmacy graduate) runs a small drug manufacturing company, Innova Drugs at Bhagawanpur in Roorkee and joined hands with one Naseem, who has over 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical business. “The two started manufacturing unbranded drugs and supplied them to the southern states. They met Muni Sekhar of Lalitha Sree Medicals in Hyderabad to market their products in AP,” Sawang said.
The Commisioner said that to earn a quick buck, the three joined hands and started supplying fake drugs filled with starch and flour. “Based on a complaint filed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals with the DCA on October 31, CTF police went to Roorkee and traced the racket to Innova Drugs,” he said.
Sawang further said raids were conducted by CTF on Sai Medicals in One Town area and Harikrishna Medicals in Narasaraopet in Guntur.
They found that spurious Ultracet tablets (painkillers) were sold and seized them. Other persons, who have distributed spurious medicines, include Orudhvi Teja of Maheswari Medicals in Nandyal, Ramakrishna and Chaitanya of Durga Medicals in Guntur, Phani Kumar of Harikrishna Medicals in Narasaraopet and Perla Ravi Kumar of Sai Medicals in Vijayawada. Director General of Drug Control Authority M Ravi Shankar said that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) tested the drugs and found them to be spurious and sub-standard, which would have health implications on the consumers.