Bogus drug supplied to many government hospitals in State

 

 

 

Spurious Ciprofloxacin scandal 

 

 

 

The investigation into the counterfeit Ciprofloxacin-500 (Recip-500), an antibiotic tablet, uncovered that the main suspect, Vijay Shailendra Choudhary, a resident of Thane, carried out the fraudulent operation across Maharashtra and distributed fake medicines to numerous districts. Choudhary, originally from Rajasthan, operated a drug store in Bhiwandi, Thane district, where he established a bogus pharmaceutical company. Leveraging political connections, Choudhary secured contracts for supplying medicines and executed the illicit operation. His wife holds the position of Deputy Manager in a major Mumbai bank, as confirmed by a police official. Choudhary’s criminal activities were exposed last year, leading to his arrest in Thane.

 

In a similar manner, Choudhary managed to secure a contract for supplying Ciprofloxacin drugs to government hospitals in Nagpur. An official disclosed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confiscated 21,600 tablets of Ciprofloxacin from the government store at Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMC&H) in January 2024. As the samples of the medicine were collected in March 2023, lakhs of tablets had been distributed to patients over the course of 10 months in the district. Alongside Choudhary, the police also charged Hemant Dhondiba Mule from Latur and Mihir Trivedi from Bhiwandi.

 

A case was registered under Sections 420, 468, 471, 276, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at Kalmeshwar police station. Further investigation revealed that the spurious drug was manufactured by a non-existent company named Refined Pharma in Gujarat, adding another layer of deception. Choudhary, the primary suspect, had a prior arrest record in a case related to the sale of counterfeit medicines. He supplied the drug to Trivedi, who then passed it on to Mule, eventually reaching the government, according to the police official.