TN orders probe over seizure of stolen drugs from shelter home

“The source through which the alleged accused Jubin Baby obtained these tablets is a mystery,” the DSP said in the report.

Chennai Tamil Nadu health minister Ma Subramanian has ordered an inquiry after police seized thousands of psychiatric drugs bearing the seal, “Tamil Nadu Government Supply-Not for Sale” from the Anbu Jothi Ashram in Villupuram district. This home for the elderly, which was operating without a license, has been in the eye of a storm since February after horror stories of rape, torture, and human trafficking of its inmates emerged.

In her status report, DSP Priyadarshini said that they seized forged letters attributed to police officers to allow the transport of the home’s residents to other states. (HT File)

“The principal secretary (P Senthilkumar) will form a team of officials to start a departmental inquiry into this,” Subramanian said on Wednesday. His decision came a day after HT reported the contents of two status reports filed in the Madras high court by deputy superintendent of police (DSP), A Priyadarshini and inspector of police, CB-CID, P K Manickam.

In her status report, DSP Priyadarshini said that they seized forged letters attributed to police officers to allow the transport of the home’s residents to other states. She also listed an inventory of a “huge quantity of psychiatric drugs” -- Haloperidol (26,310 tablets), Diazepam (660 tablets), Divalproex extended release (270 tablets), Apixaban (300 tablets), Lithium Carbonate (420 tablets), Clozapine (210 tablets), Sodium Valproate (12,530 tablets), and Clotrimazole cream (309 tubes) “all bearing a seal, Tamil Nadu Government Supply - Not for Sale” -- seized from the premises. These were medicines meant to be provided to patients free of cost in government hospitals.

“The source through which the alleged accused Jubin Baby obtained these tablets is a mystery,” the DSP said in the report.

Four FIRs have been filed in the case after the state’s CB-CID took over the case on February 18. A fifth case is likely to be filed after reports emerged of a Congress member’s brother missing from the institute. “Once we receive a complaint, we will file this case too,” said a senior CB-CID officer who asked not to be named.

It was a missing man complaint that exposed the alleged web of crimes inside the institute.

A US resident Salim Khan asked his close friend Halideen in December 2021 to admit his 70-year-old uncle Zafir Ullah in a shelter home since he had no close relatives to care for him. When Khan returned to India a year later in December 2022, he found Ullah missing. But prime accused Jubin Baby, who ran the institute, told them that Ullah was transferred to Bengaluru’s Home of Hope. When the man was not found there either, Halideen filed a complaint with the local police in Kedar village in December 2022 and a habeas corpus petition before the Madras high court.

On the orders of the court, on February 10, a team of district officials led by DSP Priyadarshini inspected the ashram and found 15 people missing from the premises. Two pet monkeys belonging to Jubin Baby (police said he used them to instil fear among the residents) bit 10 people including him.

Before handing over the case to the CB-CID, local police arrested eight accused including Jubin and his wife J Mariya, who operated this institute from where 142 residents were rescued, and another branch from where 25 people were rescued.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a health department official said that they have formed a team of four medical officers to conduct an inquiry on the orders of the minister. “These drugs are meant only for government hospitals...our team will visit and find out if these drugs were accumulated and misused,” the officials said.