Spurious drugs: Involved in tablet coating, 4th accused arrested in Baddi, in 14-day remand

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, November 28

A Nalagarh court today remanded a Baddi resident, Naresh Kumar, allegedly involved in the manufacturing of spurious drugs, in 14-day police custody. He is the fourth accused to be arrested in the spurious drug manufacturing case. He was arrested last evening in Baddi by a team of drug inspectors and the police.

Kingpin’s house searched

• Kingpin Mohit Bansal’s residence searched at Baddi, drugs and raw material seized
• Fourth accused Naresh Kumar was engaged in spurious drug manufacturing for six months
• Printing material was procured from Uttarakhand while the drugs were packed at Baddi
• The raw material supplier is still at large

State Drugs Controller Navneet Marwaha said, “Naresh Kumar was found involved in the coating of spurious ‘in-process tablets’. He is a resident of Kiratpuri Umrikala, Muaradabad, in UP. Some more persons involved in this racket are likely to be arrested in the coming days.”

Naresh, who was working with a pharmaceutical unit at Baddi, was engaged in spurious drug manufacturing for the past six months. He has an ITI diploma. The probe revealed that printing material was procured from neighbouring states such as Uttarakhand while the drugs were packed at Baddi.

Teams, comprising eight drug inspectors, have been raiding various locations at Baddi and UP to arrest others involved in this illicit trade. Though the racket was unearthed a week ago, the supplier of the raw material is still at large. It is being probed whether any licensed raw material trader from Baddi also has a role in this trade or the material was supplied solely by traders from UP.

The drug inspectors and the police also searched the residence of the kingpin, Mohit Bansal, at the Phase III Housing Board Colony, Baddi, last evening. The team recovered 24 drugs, a huge stock of raw material, semi-finished tablets, printed foils and parts of machines used in the manufacturing of spurious drugs.

Over Rs 1-crore spurious drugs were seized from a godown at Baddi and an unauthorised manufacturing unit was sealed by officials last week after the arrest of three persons. Meanwhile, drug stores at Agra and Aligarh are being inspected by a team of drug inspectors where spurious drugs have reportedly been diverted for sale. It is learnt that drugs have been sold to at least 30 retail shops by Mohit Bansal.

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