BENGALURU: The state government on Thursday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the Bengaluru City Police and officials from the Drugs Control Department to probe the massive counterfeit and spurious medicine racket that was busted by the Food Safety and Drug Administration officers and Tavarekere police. Police have arrested four of the accused.
The SIT will be headed by 2009 batch IPS officer C Vamsi Krishna, presently serving as Joint Commissioner of Police (West). The SIT will take the four accused arrested by the local police into their custody.
Accused taken for spot mahazar
The accused who have been arrested are identified as V Prabhudev, Tejas, Naveen and Venkatesh. The police had initially arrested Prabhudev followed by Tejas and Naveen on Tuesday and Wednesday. Venkatesh who was working as the medicine distributor is the fourth person to be arrested. Other members in the SIT team are IPS officers Shivaprakash Devaraju, Lokesh B Jagalasar; Manjunatha Reddy, Assistant Drugs Controller, Bengaluru Urban; Namratha Hallur, Assistant Drugs Controller, Bengaluru South District; and Neha Murgi, Food Inspector, Bengaluru South district.
The SIT will function under the supervision of the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order, Police Headquarters, Bengaluru and submit reports on the progress of the investigation to the State Police Chief. The Tavarekere police, after taking the four accused into custody, took them to the farm house on Thursday for the spot mahazar. The main accused, Prashanth, is presently abroad. The mobile phones of all the accused have been recovered and are being examined.
