ED arrests pharma firm owner in PMLA case

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jalandhar Zonal Office, has arrested Abhishek Kumar, who was found to be involved in generation and acquisition of proceeds of crime through illegal sale of psychotropic tablets such as tramadol and alprazolam, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.

The accused was arrested on Tuesday and was produced before the Special Court (PMLA), Mohali, which granted the ED his six-day custody. The ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the Punjab Police under various Sections of NDPS Act 1985 relating to the large-scale inter-state trafficking of psychotropic tablets and capsules.

A search action was conducted at 16 premises linked with Abhishek Kumar and other entities which resulted in the seizure of various incriminating records. The ED investigation revealed that the middle men viz wholesalers and retailers were procuring huge quantities of psychotropic tablets from pharmaceutical firms Biogenetic Drugs Pvt. Ltd, CB Healthcare, Smilax Pharmachem Drug Industries, Aster Pharma and Soul Health Care and were diverting it for sale in black market at high cost than the retail price, through drug peddlers, generating huge proceeds of crime (POC).

Abhishek through his firm Shree Shyam Medical Agency procured bulk quantities of these psychotropic tablets from wholesalers/manufacturers and illegally sold approximately 75 per cent of the stock.