Rs 1-crore fake drugs of top brands seized from Baddi godown, three arrested

Solan, November 23

Three persons were arrested following the seizure of counterfeit medicines of leading brands worth more than Rs 1 crore from a godown in Baddi late last night.

The drug haul has left the authorities shocked as the medicines were being manufactured at an unlicensed unit in Baddi, which was meant to trade in medical equipment only.

The arrests were made by the Drug Control Administration (DCA), a first in the state. In earlier such cases, arrests were made by the police. A case under Section 18 A1, read with Section 17, of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, has been registered.

Those arrested were identified as Mohit Bansal of Agra, the kingpin who ran the unit and owns a wholesale drug business, Atul Gupta of Auraiya in UP and Vijay Kaushal of Indore. They were produced in a local court today which remanded them in four-day custody.

Navneet Marwaha, State Drugs Controller, said, “A godown located in Baddi was raided and fake drugs valued at more than Rs 1 crore were seized. The medicines were manufactured under the name of renowned companies like Ipca Laboratories, USV Pvt Ltd, Cipla, Cadila, Macleods Pharmaceuticals, Signova Pharma among others.”

Strips of popular brands of top companies were also seized. “A team of the Uttar Pradesh DCA raided Bansal’s shop in Agra and seized its entire stock,” he said.

Sarah Enterprises, Plot No. 29, DIC Industrial Area, the unit where the counterfeit drugs were manufactured, was also raided. Sources said Bansal was planning to expand operations at the said unit for which machinery had been arranged. He was manufacturing fake drugs here and selling these through his wholesale shop in Agra, they said.

Meant for sale in UP

• A godown in Baddi raided late on Tuesday, fake drugs valued at Rs 1 cr seized
• Kingpin Mohit Bansal manufactured drugs at his unlicensed unit in Baddi
• Sold counterfeit medicines of top brands from his shop in Agra