Read Time: 05 minutes

Synopsis

The Delhi Police, on Wednesday,  filed a chargesheet in Tis Hazari Court, revealing a major scam involving the sale of counterfeit cancer medicines. The investigation exposed a network involving top hospitals, resulting in eight victims, including one fatality, and the seizure of over 140 vials of fake drugs valued at Rs 4 crore.

The traced victims included a patient from Uzbekistan who had purchased six injections for Rs 5.92 lakh, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir who had bought two injections for Rs 1.80 lakh, and a resident of Haryana who had acquired six injections for Rs 5.67 lakh. Additionally, a woman from Chandigarh had bought ten injections for her mother at Rs 13.50 lakh, a resident of Punjab had purchased twelve injections for his mother for Rs 16.20 lakh, another woman from Chandigarh had acquired ten injections for her grandmother for Rs 13.50 lakh.

The chargesheet also recounted an incident from Madhubani, Bihar, where a man's wife, diagnosed with mouth and lung cancer, was treated at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Buddha Cancer Hospital in Patna. Following medical advice to use Keytruda injections, the man bought four injections for Rs 3.60 lakh from an online contact named Love Narula. After administering two injections, the patient's condition deteriorated, culminating in her death on September 11, 2022.

In March, seven suspects were apprehended by the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch and the Delhi government's Department of Drugs Control. Subsequently, five more suspects were arrested. 

The investigation uncovered that four accused were employed in the oncology departments of leading cancer hospitals in Delhi and Gurgaon. Specifically, two of the twelve accused were pharmacists at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute. In contrast, others worked at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Millennium Cancer Center in Gurgaon, and Venkateshwar Hospital in Delhi.

The operation entailed purchasing empty vials for Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000, refilling them with counterfeit substances, and selling them for Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 through pharmacies and online platforms. Notices issued to the involved hospitals revealed that the batch numbers of the fake drugs matched those manufactured by the company, supporting allegations that the suspects misappropriated the drugs from their workplaces for personal gain.

The chargesheet further indicated that besides selling to suppliers, the accused utilized the online business platform Indiamart to market the counterfeit injections, with seven of them registering on the site to facilitate sales.

[Inputs: Business Standard]