Udhampur infant deaths: Pharma firm owners among five named in charge sheet

According to people aware of the matter, the 742-page charge sheet was filed before a first class judicial magistrate in Ramnagar and the first hearing before a sessions court is scheduled to take place on January 4.

Three years after 14 infants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district died due to consumption of a spurious cough syrup, police filed its charge sheet against five people, including three proprietors of a Himachal Pradesh-based pharmaceutical company.

Five people have been named in the charge sheet, the SSP said. (Representative Photo)

According to people aware of the matter, the 742-page charge sheet was filed before a first class judicial magistrate in Ramnagar and the first hearing before a sessions court is scheduled to take place on January 4.

The syrup, investigation revealed earlier, contained diethylene glycol, a chemical unfit for human consumption since it can lead to fatal kidney disease. This is one of the two toxic contaminants that potentially led to the deaths of 66 children in The Gambia earlier this year.

“The charge sheet has been filed in the court of judicial magistrate first class in Ramnagar by investigating officer deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Bhishm Dubey,” Udhampur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vinod Kumar said. HT is yet to see the charge sheet.

Five people have been named in the charge sheet, the SSP said.

Fourteen infants – 13 in Ramnagar area of Udhampur and one in Bishnah of Jammu district – were killed and six were left with physical disabilities after consuming Coldbest PC syrup between December 2019 and January 2020. The syrup was manufactured by Himachal Pradesh-based pharma company Digital Vision.

The matter came to light in January 2020 when the National Human Rights Commission registered a case on the basis of a complaint by Jammu-based social activist, Sukesh Khajuria.

In his complaint, Khajuria alleged that dozens of infants had died in the region after consuming the spurious cough syrup.

The Drug Controller of India banned the syrup in January 2020.

The J&K Drug Controller also took cognisance of the matter and sent 34 samples of the syrup for testing at Chandigarh-based Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER). The test reports linked the deaths to the presence of parabens and diethylene glycol.

According to S Centers for Disease Control (CDC), diethylene glycol is often found as a contaminant in glycerin, which is used as a sweetener in formulations of many pharmaceutical syrups ingested orally.

On March 3, 2020, police registered a case under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and a month later, constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the deaths. A few people, including the proprietors, were taken into custody and later released on bail.

Those named in the charge sheet are Parshotam Goyal (proprietor) of Govind Nagar in Ambala, his two sons Manic Goyal and Konic Goyal (proprietors), Jammu-based pharmaceutical wholesaler Varinder Kumar Jandyal and Ramnagar-based chemist Mohinder Singh.

The owners of Digital Vision have been chargesheeted under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 274 (adulteration of drugs), 275 (sale of adulterated drugs) and 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Jandyal and Singh have been chargesheeted under sections 275, 304 and 325 of IPC.

The SIT was headed by DSP Dubey.

There was a delay in filing the charge sheet as several members of the SIT were transferred and a new panel had to be created, Dubey said.

The investigation picked up momentum in April last year after Dubey took over as Ramnagar sub divisional police officer.

On April 29 this year, the Jammu & Kashmir high court granted monetary compensation of ₹3 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased.