Delhi: 5 held for selling govt supplied medicines illegally

Delhi Police arrested five, including a pharmacist, for a scheme diverting ₹70 lakh worth of government medicines intended for free patient distribution.

The Delhi Police crime branch arrested five people, including a pharmacist and a contractual helper at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital, for allegedly running a racket that diverted government-supplied medicines meant for free distribution to patients, senior police officers said on Sunday.

Police said medicines, including antibiotics and critical care injections, worth around ₹70 lakh were seized.

Police said medicines, including antibiotics and critical care injections, worth around ₹70 lakh were seized. The racket had been operating for the past 1.5 years through a chain of brokers.

The accused were identified as Neeraj Kumar,53, Sushil Kumar,47, Laxman Mukhia,48, Binesh Kumar,54, and Prakash Mehto,30, police said.

Neeraj is a wholesale medicine dealer from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, while Sushil, from the same district, is a taxi driver. Mukhia from Delhi’s Jankpuri is a tempo driver. Sushil used to help Neeraj transport illegally procured medicines from Delhi to Saharanpur, said deputy commissioner of police (crime) Pankaj Kumar.

Binesh, a pharmacist/store keeper at the hospital, diverted medicines by manipulating stock records and reducing supply entries. “He coordinated with co-accused for illegal sale of medicines. Mehto, a contractual helper, acted as a middleman and facilitated extraction, storage, communication, and financial transactions and received a commission,” said the DCP.

A DDU hospital official, who did not want to be named, said, “On Saturday, we received an intimation regarding the arrest. The requisite action including enquiry and suspension will be taken on Monday.”

Neeraj, Sushil and Mukhia were arrested on Thursday from Tis Hazari in north Delhi while transporting a large consignment of medicines marked “government supply not for sale” in a tempo and a car, which was also seized, the DCP added.

“Neerej revealed that he had been procuring medicines for the past 1–1.5 years and supplying them in open market through brokers across multiple cities. Based on his disclosure, we arrested Binesh and Mehto,” added the DCP.

Police said efforts are underway to identify other members and trace financial transactions.