2 docs held for selling medicines to addicts

Gurminder Singh Grewal and Jaswant Shetra
Khanna/Jagraon, December 19
A doctor at Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, and a doctor in Mullanpur Dakha have been arrested for allegedly selling medicines to drug addicts.

The Jagraon police today arrested Dr Sudha Vasudev, posted at the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, for illegally selling psychotropic drugs to addicts from a private clinic in Mullanpur Dakha.

Dr Vasudev, who is in charge of the drug de-addiction drive in Ludhiana district, was caught red-handed by the police in Jagraon. The police have arrested another woman, identified as Beant Kaur, working as an assistant with Dr Vasudev at the latter’s private clinic.

The police have recovered more than 2,000 psychotropic tablets and Rs 33,000 in cash from the clinic. A case has been registered against the two under the NDPS Act.

Addressing a press conference here today, Jagraon SSP Ravcharan Singh Brar said Dr Vasudev had been running a private clinic at Mullanpur Dakha for the past three years. ( A raid on Dr Vasudev’s residence was on till the filing of the report).

Officiating Civil Surgeon Dr Sanjeev Hans said he had no official intimation about the matter. “We will take action as per the rules,” he said.

The SSP said when Dr Vasudev was nabbed, she tried to bribe the police. “We have initiated the process to register a case against her under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” said the SSP.

Meanwhile, the Khanna police today arrested a doctor working in a private hospital and recovered 9,000 tablets (worth Rs 36 lakh) used for treating addicts at de-addiction centres.

Khanna SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill said Dr Ashish Sharma of Ivy Hospital had been arrested with a huge stock of Buprenorphine and B-Nox-0.4 tablets being used for de-addiction.

The doctor had no licence to run a de-addiction centre. He said a case under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act had been registered against him.

The officer said during preliminary investigation, Sharma, a resident of Chandigarh, had admitted that he had been selling the medicine to addicts at inflated rates for the past one year.

The Khanna SSP said the doctor was caught at a naka near Ivy Hospital, Khanna. The police had found 9,000 tablets in the doctor’s car. “These tablets are supplied only to designated de-addiction centres in the state,” he explained. Gurtej Singh, MD, Ivy Hospital, said Sharma had been a visiting doctor and his contract had ended on November 8.