Ambala trader in the net for J-K cough syrup deaths

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, March 9

The Ambala trader, who had supplied adulterated propylene glycol (PG) to the Kala Amb-based Digital Vision pharma company, was arrested on late Saturday evening. The company’s Coldbest-PC syrup had claimed 12 lives in Jammu and Kashmir.

Trader Vibhor Chitkara, who was operating Thakur Enterprises at Ambala Cantonment, was arrested by the Kala Amb police. Since he was supplying products falling under Indian Pharmacopeia, it was mandatory for him to seek registration as a wholesaler in Ambala.

SP, Sirmaur, Ajay Krishan Sharma, said investigations into the case were under way to establish the origin of the raw material.

Sources said initial investigations revealed that the batch no. DL5201 of PG, used to manufacture Coldbest-PC cough syrup, had not been procured from Chennai-based Manali Petrochemicals and Thakur Enterprises had affixed its batch number on the container on its own.

The police were further inquiring into the origin of the adulterated raw material. The extent of adulterant diethylene glycol (DEC) was as high as 34.24 per cent and 35.87 per cent in two lab analysis reports of the Regional Drug Testing Laboratory, Chandigarh. This proved that it was an industrial chemical and not a pharmaceutical raw material, informed the sources.

Drug Controller, Haryana, Narinder Ahuja said since Thakur Enterprises did not sell pharmaceutical raw material, he was not registered for it and the pharmaceutical company which deliberately bought this material at a cheaper rate from a chemical trader was at fault. Further, the failure of the manufacturing staff to undertake pre-manufacturing test of the raw material and post-manufacturing test of the cough syrup to detect the impurity led to infant mortality.

Sources in the pharmaceutical sector said certain unregistered raw material traders habitually secured adulterated material or one whose expiry date was nearing from unauthorised sources and they sold it at cheaper rates to various pharmaceutical units in the state. The use of such material led to spurious and substandard drug production.

This was a startling revelation as it proved that the pharmaceutical company had deliberated bought raw material whose purity was questionable.

The firm partners as well as its production manager of Digital Vision were on the run ever since the case was registered on March 2 though they were present in the unit before registration of the case by the police.