CUTTACK: Bhubaneswar-based Aama Janata Adhikar Trust (AJAD) has filed a PIL in the Orissa High Court seeking a CBI probe into the alleged spurious Covid-19 drug trade in the state. AJAD co-convener Basudev Bhatta sought a court-monitored CBI probe expressing concern over the extensive network of the spurious drugs cartel in the State that had come to light following the recent seizure of counterfeit Favipiravir tablets worth Rs 70 lakh in Cuttack.
The drug control officials seized huge quantity of Favipiravir tables alleged to be fake from a distributor in Cuttack on June 10. Spurious Covid-19 drugs were also seized in Balangir, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Bhubaneswar on the next day.
While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered a Crime Branch inquiry, a Special Task Force (STF) has been formed to probe the drug trade. The petition filed on July 1, 2021, contended that investigation by the STF can neither be effective nor fruitful because of its inherent limitations in functioning in the face of inter-state ramifications involved in unearthing the modus operandi of the cartel running the spurious drug network. The petitioner also sought the court’s direction for strict implementation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act-1940 in letter and spirit in the interest of the Covid-19 victims and public at large.