ED freezes ₹9 lakh, seizes records in Bengaluru fake Pfizer antibiotics racket
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches at five premises in Karnataka linked to an alleged counterfeit medicines racket, and has frozen a bank account holding about ₹9 lakh. The operation is part of a money-laundering investigation that grew out of a police case in Bengaluru.
The searches were carried out under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. They follow a First Information Report (FIR) registered at the Tavarekere police station on August 18.
The case began with a joint raid by the Drug Controlling Authority and police personnel on August 18 at a residential property in C.K. Tandya village. According to the ED, medicines and pharmaceutical drugs were allegedly being stored there without valid licences, permits or authorisations, and labels on the stored medicines were being replaced. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Vamsi Krishna, Joint Commissioner (West), Bengaluru, is investigating the matter.
The FIR was registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957. Because these are scheduled offences under the PMLA, the ED filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and opened a money-laundering investigation.
According to the ED's investigation, a man identified as R. Prashanth allegedly arranged a farmhouse near Bidadi for the manufacture, repackaging and relabelling of medicines without the required drug licence or permit.
The agency has alleged that inexpensive bulk pharmaceutical formulations, sourced from manufacturing centres in various States, were repackaged into new vials and labelled as expensive Pfizer antibiotics, including Zavicefta and Emblaveo. While the vials allegedly contained generic medicines, they carried labels bearing the Pfizer brand name.
The counterfeit medicines were allegedly distributed through M/s DM Pharmaceuticals and supplied to M/s Krupa Healthcare, which in turn supplied them to other pharmaceutical entities and hospitals. The ED has said the medicines were mixed with genuine stock to avoid detection.
During the searches, bank accounts belonging to Veeresh Kumar, containing approximately ₹9 lakh, were frozen. Digital devices, records and other documents said to be incriminating and belonging to various persons were also seized.
The case points to a wider public health concern. Counterfeit and mislabelled medicines can be substandard or contaminated, and patients and hospitals have no reliable way of knowing what a vial actually contains. Investigators say mixing fake stock with genuine stock makes detection harder for buyers, including hospitals that purchase through distributors.
The ED has said further investigation is under way to establish the extent of the alleged money-laundering network and to trace the proceeds of crime. The agency has not indicated how long the operation is believed to have run, how many vials were involved, or which hospitals and entities are under scrutiny.
The allegations are based on the ED's findings so far. No person named in the case has been convicted, and all those accused are entitled to the presumption of innocence. The investigation is continuing.
