Odisha: 5 fake drug suppliers brought to Bargarh on transit remand

SAMBALPUR: Bargarh police on Thursday brought the five accused persons of Uttar Pradesh, who were arrested for supplying spurious drugs, to Bargarh.

The five persons have been identified as Subham Jaiswal, 30, Retesh Kumar Jaiswal, 42, Chandra Sekhar Singh, 49, Gourab Sharma, 40, Abhisek Kumar Singh, 35, all from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The five, who have been brought on transit remand, were produced before a local court in Bargarh on Thursday.

Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Amrit Panda said earlier on January 17 this year, a case was registered with Bargarh police in connection with the sale of spurious drugs and one Sunil Kumar Agrawal of Bargarh was arrested. Subsequently, following interrogation, a team of Bargarh police and STF Odisha proceeded towards UP for further investigation. And with the help of UP police, the five were arrested. They were involved in the supply of 25 fake branded medicines, he said.

Police said while Subham, Abhisekh and Chandra Sekhar ran their company, the other two - Retesh and Gaurab - are the middlemen.

The middlemen were supplying the spurious drugs to Sunil Kumar Agrawal in Bargarh. Though Sunil was procuring the spurious medicines at a lower price from the middlemen, the medicines were being sold in the market at a higher price. An investigation is under way to find out whether they were supplying the spurious medicines to other places and other districts, or if any other person is involved in the racket.

The police said the accused persons have been arrested under Section 274 (adulteration of drugs), 275 (sale of adulterated drugs), 276 (sale of adulterated drug as different drug or preparation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security, will or authority to make or transfer any valuable security, or to receive any money, etc), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (use a forged document or electronics record as genuine), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others), 483 (counterfeiting a property mark used by another) 486 (selling goods marked with a counterfeit property mark) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of IPC besides Section 27 of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.


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