Mastermind of fake medicines manufacturing racket held in Delhi

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) The Delhi Police has arrested the alleged mastermind of a spurious medicines manufacturing racket, an official said on Thursday.

The accused, identified as Pramod Kumar Gupta (67), was arrested from the Hazrat Nizamuddin area, a few days after police busted a factory manufacturing fake medicines. Two people had been arrested earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam while addressing a press conference said.

During sustained follow-up action, police traced the supply chain to another manufacturing unit where 'Betnovate', was being produced illegally and supplied to north India, he said.

Police said Gupta was running the factory and was the key conspirator behind the racket. A large quantity of raw material was recovered from the premises, sufficient to manufacture more than 50,000 units of spurious Betnovate.

In addition to the fake medicines, police also seized a significant number of counterfeit cosmetic products.

"Around 700 tubes of fake Fair and Lovely cream and approximately 800 tubes of spurious Veet hair removal cream were recovered during the raids," the officer said.

The racket was involved in manufacturing and supplying fake medicines and cosmetic products in the market, posing a serious threat to public health, police said.

Further investigation is underway to identify the source of raw materials, the distribution network and other persons involved in the racket, police added. PTI SSJ SMV HIG