Seven arrested in Delhi, Gurugram for sale of fake cancer medicines
The suspects’ refilled used vials of cancer medicines of international and national brands with anti-fungal drugs, and also sold fake medicines with counterfeit labels
Seven men, including two employees of a major private cancer hospital in the Capital, have been arrested in Delhi and Gurugram for manufacturing fake cancer medicines and selling them at medical stores across the city and other states, police officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday.
One of the suspects also ran a medical tourism company through which he sold fake medicines to cancer patients from foreign countries for hefty amounts in US dollars, they added.
The arrested suspects were identified as Viphil Jain, 46, and Neeraj Chauhan, 38, both masterminds of the racket, Neeraj’s relative Tushar Chauhan, 28, Suraj Shat, 28, Parvez Khan,33, Komal Tiwari,39, and Abhinav Kohli, 30. Tiwari and Kohli are pharmacists who have been working in the cytotoxic admixture unit of a major private cancer hospital in Delhi since 2013.
According to the police, the suspects’ racket worked in two ways — they refilled used vials of cancer medicines of international and national brands with anti-fungal drugs, and sold them as cancer medicines, and filled local vials with fake drugs and pasted counterfeit labels of pharmaceutical brands on them and sold them as cancer medicines.
The Crime Branch got wind of the suspects around two months ago when its interstate crime (ISC) unit received a tip that an organised syndicate was manufacturing and supplying fake cancer medicines in Delhi. The team developed the information, identified the suspects, their network, and where they operated, and conducted the raids after all the evidence was collected, said additional commissioner of police (crime) Sanjay Bhatia.
The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch on Monday conducted raids in four locations in Delhi and Gurugram where the suspects manufactured, packaged, and stored fake cancer drugs and injections, and recovered vials marked with counterfeit labels of seven international and two Indian pharmaceutical brands, valued at ₹4 crore in the market, said special commissioner of police (crime) Shalini Singh.
Jain previously worked at a medical store in Seelampur and got the idea of manufacturing and selling fake cancer medicines, investigators said. He included Shat and Khan in his illegal business plan, they added. Neeraj previously worked as a manager in the oncology department of several major private hospitals in Delhi and Gurugram. He began working with Jain in 2022, said investigators.
“Tiwari and Kohli procured empty injection vials of cancer medicines of Indian and international pharmaceutical brands that were administered at their hospital, and sold them to Khan for ₹5,000 per vial. Khan and the other gang members refilled the vials with ‘Fluconozol’, an anti-fungal drug which cost ₹100. After re-packaging, they sold each injection vial in the market at rates between ₹1 lakh and ₹3 lakh, depending on the brand. After we conducted the raids, we seized ₹90 lakh cash and $19,000 (more than ₹15 lakh) from the suspects on Monday,” said special CP Singh.
“Neeraj also ran his own medical tourism company and targeted foreigners who came to India for cancer treatment. He supplied them with fake chemotherapy injections. Neeraj also involved his cousin Tushar and used him to supply fake injections in the market,” said an investigator on condition of anonymity.
The investigator added, “Jain and Neeraj have accumulated properties worth several crores of rupees using their crime proceeds. They were living lavishly. Neeraj lived in a rented bungalow in Anand Vihar in east Delhi. We are identifying such properties.”
According to ACP Bhatia, the first raid was conducted at the DLF Capital Greens residential society in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar. “This is the prime location where the fake cancer medicines were manufactured by Viphil Jain. He had taken two economically weaker section (EWS) flats on rent and used them to manufacture and refill the fake cancer injections. Shat was managing the illegal activities at the flats. A total of 140 filled vials with counterfeit labels of various international and Indian brands valued at around ₹1.75 crore and 197 empty vials were recovered from the flats. Our team members also recovered ₹50,000 and $1,000 in cash, three cap sealing machines, and one heat gun machine from there,” said ACP Bhatia.
The second raid was conducted at a flat in South City, Gurugram, where Neeraj had hoarded a large quantity of fake cancer injections, said investigators. “At least 137 filled counterfeit vials of seven international brands valued at ₹2.15 crore, 519 empty vials, 864 vials packaging boxes, ₹89 lakh cash and $18,000, and a cash counting machine were recovered from the flat. The recovered foreign currency notes were earned by Neeraj by selling the fake injections to his foreign clients,” said ACP Bhatia.
The third raid was conducted at Yamuna Vihar from where the team members arrested Parvez Khan, who arranged empty vials for Jain and also supplied the vials refilled with fake medicine, said investigators. The fourth raid was conducted at a private cancer hospital in Delhi from where Tiwari and Kohli were arrested, said investigators. Their interrogation led to the arrest of Chauhan, Crime Branch officers said.
“We are now looking for a person from Bihar who was one of the key receivers of the fake cancer medicines from the racketeers and sold them in his state and other adjoining states,” said the officer cited anonymously above.