Licence Of Tamil Nadu Firm Behind 'Killer' Cough Syrup Revoked
The state government has also ordered a thorough inspection of all pharmaceutical manufacturing units across Tamil Nadu.
· www.ndtv.comChennai:
The Tamil Nadu Drug Control department has revoked the manufacturing licence of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, which manufactured 'Coldrif' cough syrup that led to the deaths of several children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The directions included closure of all operations and sealing of the company's warehouse.
Officials said that during inspections, authorities found over 350 serious irregularities at the company's factory, ranging from poor hygiene standards to violations of manufacturing norms under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
"During inspection, the firm presented only a retail pharmacy license and failed to produce any valid documents for its warehouse operations," a drug inspector said. "There was also no refrigerator for medicine storage. Despite being given 24 hours to respond, the explanation was unsatisfactory, and hence the license was revoked."
The state government has also ordered a thorough inspection of all pharmaceutical manufacturing units across Tamil Nadu.
According to an official statement from the Drug Control department, disciplinary action had earlier been taken against Sresan Pharma in 2021 and 2022 for lapses in compliance. However, as no inspection was conducted last year, two drug inspectors have now been suspended for negligence.
The crackdown widened on Monday as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at seven locations in Chennai linked to Sresan Pharma.
The ED conducted searches at the Chennai residence of Ranganathan Govindan, the owner of Sresan Pharma, and at the company's manufacturing unit in Kanchipuram. The Madhya Pradesh SIT team has brought Renganathan to the Kanchipuram unit for further inquiry.
The searches extended to the homes and offices of key company officials as well as PU Karthikeyan, the Director (In-Charge) of the Tamil Nadu Food and Drug Administration, who has already been arrested in connection with the case.
The Madhya Pradesh Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took strong action against Kataria Pharmaceuticals, the Jabalpur-based authorised distributor of the toxic Coldrif syrup.
Govindan (75), was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police on October 9 from his Chennai apartment after an intensive inter-state investigation. He was flown to Tamil Nadu on Sunday evening for further interrogation. Investigators are now examining supply chain records, export data, and batch manufacturing logs to determine how the spurious cough syrup reached retail shelves.
Source say the ED suspects financial irregularities and possible money laundering linked to the sale and distribution of substandard cough syrup batches.
A batch of the Coldrif cough syrup was found to be contaminated with lethal levels of diethylene glycol (DEG), which was directly linked to acute kidney failure in the children who dies after consuming it.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
Follow us:
Coldrif Children Deaths, Cough Syrup Deaths, Sresan Pharma