New Delhi: Three months after a fake cancer drugs racket was busted, Delhi Police has said in its charge sheet that eight patients who consumed the spurious medicines were traced as part of the investigation. Of the eight, one patient died after consuming the fake cancer drug, the chargesheet that has been filed in Tis Hazari court underlines, adding that the accused worked in top hospitals in Delhi and Gurgaon.
The accused allegedly sourced empty vials of critical medicines from pharmacists or hospital staff, and then sold these vials — filled with spurious drugs – through pharmacists and websites, as per the chargesheet. More than 140 vials of the fake medication — that originally cost around Rs 4 crore in the open market — were seized, said police.
Police traced eight patients, including one in Uzbekistan who bought six injections for Rs 5.92 lakh; one from Jammu and Kashmir who bought two injections for Rs 1.80 lakh; one from Haryana who bought six injections for Rs 5.67 lakh; one Chandigarh-based woman who bought 10 injections for her mother for Rs 13.50 lakh; one Punjab-based man who bought for 12 injections for his mother for 16.20 lakh; one Chandigarh-based woman who purchased 10 injections for her grandmother for Rs 13.50 lakh; and one West-Bengal-based man who bought 24 injections for his father for Rs 24 lakh.
Giving details of the patient who died after consuming the fake medicine, the chargesheet revealed that a man from Bihar’s Madhubani told the police that his wife was suffering from mouth and lung cancer and underwent treatment at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute (RGCI), and Buddha Cancer Hospital in Patna.
“Doctors advised his wife for a Keytruda injection and he came in contact with one Love Narula through an online marketplace, Indiamart. Narula offered him an injection for Rs 90,000. He purchased four injections for Rs 3.60 lakh between April and August 2022. But when his wife was administered two injections at Buddha Cancer Hospital, her condition deteriorated and she died on September 11, 2022,” it said.
Seven accused, including employees of Delhi and Gurgaon-based hospitals, were arrested earlier this year on March 12 during raids by the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch and the Delhi government’s Department of Drugs Control. Five others were arrested later during the investigation. The accused have been identified as — Viphil Jain (44) who is the kingpin, Suraj Shat (27), Neeraj Chauhan (38), Tushar Chauhan (28), Parvez (33), Komal Tiwari (39), Abhinay Singh (30), Aditya Krishna (23), Rohit Singh Bisht (36), Jitender (33), Majid Khan (34), and Sajid (34).
The investigators have also found empty vials of the medicine bought from four accused who were working in the oncology departments of three leading cancer hospitals in Delhi and Gurgaon. Of the 12 accused, two worked as pharmacists at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute.
The other accused worked at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, and Millennium Cancer Center in Gurgaon and Venkateshwar Hospital in Delhi.
The accused used to buy empty vials for Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000 and refill these vials with spurious substances, which were later sold for Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 through pharmacists and websites.
Police also served notices to all four hospitals and received their replies, which are part of the chargesheet. “During the investigation, we sent the manufacturing details of the recovered anti-cancer injections from the accused to the four hospitals and received their replies, which established that the batch number of recovered anti-cancer injections were manufactured by the company. This exercise corroborates the fact that the accused misappropriated the anti-cancer injections from their respective hospitals and sources and used them for their personal gain,” police alleged in the chargesheet.
“The RGCI responded that Tiwari and Abhinay were posted in the Cytotoxic mixing unit and responsible for Cytotoxic drugs mixing on a daily basis. The Fortis Memorial Research Institute (in Gurgaon) said that Jitender was working as a clinical pharmacist in the Department of Hematology, Hemato-oncology, and Bone marrow transplant. He was responsible for mixing oncology drugs to be administered to patients admitted under the Department of Hematology. The Venkateshwar Hospital informed that Bisht was overall in charge of Onco-Daycare and all patients undergoing chemo medication were under his supervision. The Millennium Cancer Center told police that Sajid was posted in the oncology department and was responsible for drug-mixing and chemo administration to the patients,” read the chargesheet.
Apart from selling the vials to the suppliers, police said, the accused also used the online business platform – Indiamart to promote the sale of spurious anti-cancer injections. Seven accused had registered themselves with Indiamart.
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