Mumbai : The Crime Branch (CB) Control on Thursday arrested a 30-year-old woman from Kalyan for selling spurious medicines in the name of genuine Adcetris injection and Iclusig tablet used in cancer patients’ treatment.
The value of the spurious medicines is estimated to be over Rs 67 lakh. The genuine medicines are manufactured by a Japanese company whose representative lodged a police complaint.
The accused, Pooja Rana, owns Prime Pharma, a pharmaceutical company located in Kalyan. She was produced before a court on Friday and remanded in police custody till October 4.
Inspector Nitin Patil of the CB Control, a unit of the city Economic Offences Wing, said, “The Japanese company has appointed an Indian firm to take legal action if they find intellectual property rights violations concerninh their products. We were informed about the sale of these fake products in March. A trap was laid and one Adcetris injection was purchased for Rs.1.12 lakh in Santacruz through Prime Pharma. The seized product was sent for forensic analysis, and the report stated that it was fake and was not manufactured by the Japanese company concerned,” said a police source. The actual price of a genuine injection is Rs 5.80 lakh.
Based on the forensic report, a case was registered under various sections of the IPC and Copyright Act at the Santacruz police station on Thursday and the probe was transferred to the EOW.
A police team arrived at Prime Pharma’s office in Kalyan and during search it seized six fake Adcetris injections and two Iclusig tablets. Rana was arrested.
“These medicines are not manufactured in India, and can be imported only through a proper licence. The accused was was selling such spurious medicines which could harm human lives,” said Niket Kaushik, EOW chief.
