Hindustan Times ·
A labourer's tip, a field full of medicine waste and a <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>4.91-cr fake drug bust in Karnataka
A labourer's tip, a field full of medicine waste and a ₹4.91-cr fake drug bust in Karnataka
Police seized medicines worth ₹4.91 crore from an unlicensed facility near Bidadi and suspect a network supplying spurious drugs to 90 hospitals and clinics.
BENGALURU : The first clue in Karnataka’s suspected fake drug racket was found not in a hospital or pharmacy, in a field.
A labourer in C K Tandya village near Dodderi in Ramanagara district noticed discarded medicine waste, including vials, tubes and packets containing some powder. He alerted a police constable, who visited the area, collected samples and passed the information to senior officers.
The tip led investigators on August 18 to an unlicensed facility at Kurubarakeranahalli, near the Bidadi toll gate. They seized medicines worth ₹4.91 crore, along with expired stock, injection filling equipment, packaging material and forged labels, superintendent of police, Ramanagara district, R Srinivas Gowda said. Investigators suspected that cheaper medicines were being transferred into fresh vials and relabelled as expensive pharmaceutical brands. The biggest seizure comprised 5,640 vials labelled as Cefiavigent 2.5 injections, which police said was priced at ₹3.38 crore.