Cuttack: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch Thursday arrested the managing director of Medilloyd Medicament Private Limited having its head office in Cuttack city for trading spurious Covid-19 drugs.
The prime accused was produced in a local court later in the day.
Following further probe pertaining to STF PS Case (No. 22/ 2021, U/S 275/276/420/467/468/471/120-B of IPC r/w 27-C Drugs and Cosmetic Act, 1940) the man was arrested, an official of the STF said.
According to the official source, a case was registered earlier based on an FIR lodged by Drugs Inspectors of Cuttack city. It was alleged in the FIR that the businessman had been dealing in spurious drugs, especially medicines used in the treatment of Covid-19 such as Favimax-200 and Favimax-400 (Favipiravir).
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During a detailed investigation, it came to the fore that Max Relief Health Care is a dubious drug manufacturing company claiming to be manufacturing drugs in Solan area of Himachal Pradesh. The dubious company was being run by two different persons, both of whom were arrested by Mumbai Police earlier this month, an STF official added.
Investigations conducted so far by the STF in Odisha revealed that Medilloyd Medicament Private Limited conspired to procure Favimax tablets from Max Relief Health Care at a very low price (Rs 65/- per strip of 10 tablets) and had planned to sell them at an exorbitant price (Rs 1,290/- per strip of 10 tablets), the official informed.
Notably, the STF had Thursday arrested three accused persons in connection with this case. With this, the total number of persons arrested in Odisha so far reached four. Moreover, the STF has located and frozen more than Rs 50 lakh in the bank accounts of the accused and Medilloyd Medicament Private Limited.
Further investigation in this regard is underway by multiple teams of STF in Odisha, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
PNN
