5 More Arrested From Varanasi For Fake Drugs Racket In Odisha

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Bhubaneswar: In a major breakthrough in multi-crore fake medicines racket, a joint STF team of Odisha and Uttar Pradesh arrested 5 more persons from Varanasi in the northern state on Tuesday.

As per report, the team led by Varanasi Drug Inspector-City Amit Kumar Bansal and Drug Inspector-Rural Sanjay Dutt carried out the joint operation for 9 days before arresting the 5 persons. The arrested persons have been identified as Chandra Sekhar Singh, Gourab Sharma, Ritesh Kumar Jaiswal, Subham Jaiswal and Abhishek Singh.

The team also seized spurious drugs worth about Rs 25 lakh and a hard disk with a computer. They also detected a transaction of spurious drugs worth more than Rs 1 crore. A team from Bargarh police station in Odisha has taken the arrested persons in remand.

It may be noted that the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh had arrested one person and seized fake drugs worth around Rs 7.3 crore during a raid on a house in Sigra on March 2. The accused was identified as Ashok Kumar of Bulandshahar under Secunderabad police limits in UP.

The operation was launched by UP STF on the basis of information given by Odisha’s Health department to the Uttar Pradesh government after fake drugs seizure in Bargarh and Jharsuguda districts. The seized fake medicines had allegedly been procured from Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier, Odisha’s Health Department had constituted a special task force comprising a senior administrative officer and selected officers of drugs control administration. On January 19, the team arrested an accused named Sunil Agrawal from Bargarh and lodged an FIR against Amit Kumar Sarwagi of Jharsuguda, who was absconding.

The Odisha government’s action followed seizure of a huge quantity of fake drugs from two agencies in Jharsuguda and Bargarh districts in December last year. Investigation revealed that the spurious drugs were supplied from three Varanasi-based firms whose drug licenses had been cancelled, as per information provided by the UP government.