ONGOLE: Probing the death of 16 persons who consumed sanitizer as a substitute for alcohol, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested 10 persons, including five medical shop owners from Kurichedu, manufacturers of spurious sanitizer and raw material suppliers. The accused have been identified as Jajula alias Saale Srinivas, Saale Siva Kumar, Keshav Agarwal, Mohammed Dawood, Mohammed Haaji, all from Hyderabad and T Sudhakar of Venkata Sai Medicals, D Phani of Lakshmi Medicals, K Ramesh of Satyam Medicals, K Subba Rao of Lakshmi Venkata Ramana Medicals, and T Surendra Kumar of Varasiddhi Vinayaka Medicals of Kurichedu.
Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) Commissioner Vineet Brijlal, along with Prakasam district SP Siddharth Kaushal, said the medical shop owners, who are fully aware of the chemicals mixed in the sanitizer, tried to destroy the evidence by hiding the stocks of spurious sanitizer in their possession.
Kaushal said, “The SIT, led by Officer on Special Duty (OSD) K Chowdeswari, has completed the investigation. During the probe, it came to light that a spurious sanitizer, ‘Perfect Gold’, was manufactured in a five-room tenement, by a unit named Vandana Pharma, at Jeedimetla in Telangana. The manufacturing facility has a fake registration number, fake GST number, fake ISO certification and a fake label. The manufacturer has some knowledge about chemicals. Following demand for sanitizer due to spread of Covid-19, the main accused learnt to make it by watching videos on YouTube. Initially, he used Ethanol, later he started mixing Methanol (CH3OH) or Methyl Chloride (CH3C1) as per the advice of a raw material supplier.”
Kaushal said the SIT analysed the samples of 69 sanitizer brands and found ‘Perfect Gold’ to be spurious. The address of Vandana Pharma given on the label was fake. There was no such pharmaceutical company in Bengaluru or Hyderabad.Later, the SIT got a tip-off that ‘Perfect Gold’ sanitizer was stocked at Prashasan Nagar in Hyderabad. Five teams rushed to the place and arrested the five accused.
Brijlal said, “We are going to submit a comprehensive report on our findings, including the SIT investigation, and recommend the State government to frame rules for such manufacturers. Already, we have inspected all the 41 licensed distilleries allowed to make Ethanol-based sanitizer. Similarly, we will inspect sanitizer manufacturing units outside AP, which sell their products here. We will create awareness among the public about the hazardous chemicals in the sanitizer. For the last 10 days, our staff have conducted checks at 550 shops/sale points in the State and created awareness among medical store owners on how to identify spurious sanitizer.”
Kaushal said Hyderabad Commercial Tax officials allegedly caught the sanitizer manufacturers on two occasions, while ‘Perfect Gold’ stocks were being transported from Jeedimetla to the distribution point. But the accused allegedly bribed the officials and were let off.
“We also came to know that large quantities of once used methyl alcohol, sulphuric acid, nitric acid and other chemicals are sold in Medchal, Jeedimetla and other places of Hyderabad. We will probe the matter deeper and if necessary, take the help of our counterparts in Hyderabad,” the SP said.