CM orders, but no action against firm for illegal manufacture of drugs

DEVENDRA FADNAVIS instructed Mumbai Police to register an FIR against M/s Shantilal Brothers

On January 21, 2017, Dr Ved Tiwari, president of International Human Rights Association, had written a letter to Fadnavis to issue an order to register an offence against Shantilal Brothers

Despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis issuing an order to Mumbai Police to register a FIR against M/s Shantilal Brothers, medical distributor for illegal manufacturing & sale of amphetamine, a narcotic drug, the Lokmanya Tilak Marg police station has not made any arrest. An FIR was registered on May 25 this year.

On May 25, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Assistant Commissioner Abasaheb Ramkar registered an FIR against the firm’s partners Bipin Kothari, Kirtiben Kothari, Rohan Dhairesh Sanghvi, Dhairesh Kantilal Sanghvi, Anjali Hemani, Pranav Hemani and M/s. Shantilal Brothers for cheating (Section 420), forgery for purpose of cheating (Section 468), using as genuine a forged document (Section 471) and counterfeiting device or mark used for authenticating documents (Section 475) of the Indian Penal Code and under the supply of any drug 6[other than those specified in Schedule X (Section 65 (5)(i)) and Section 65 (5)(ii), and Section 65 (6) and any drug or cosmetic in contravention of any of the provisions (Section 18 (A)(vi)) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

According to Dr Ved Tiwari, “The accused have been involved in the manufacture and sale of amphetamine since 2009. The firm has been operating since 2006. The accused used to manufacture Lorfast D tablets and used to produce fake bills for it. Drugs worth Rs 2,26,747 were seized.”

“No action has been taken by the police. No arrest has been made yet,” said Tiwari.

On January 21, 2017, Dr Ved Tiwari, president of International Human Rights Association, had written a letter to Fadnavis to issue an order to register an offence against Shantilal Brothers. As per the letter issued by Dr Tiwari to the Chief Minister (a copy of which is available with the Free Press Journal), “Shantilal brothers have been involved in the manufacturing and sale of amphetamine which is banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS). Amphetamine been listed under the controlled substance list under Schedule 10 of the NDPS Act. An inquiry had been set up by the FDA. However, no action was taken against Shantilal Brothers by the FDA authorities. It is possible that the accused may flee from the country due to the apathy of the FDA and police officials. Therefore, I request you to give directions to the Mumbai police to register a FIR.”

The same letter was forwarded to Girish Bapat, the Cabinet Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, and Madan Yeravar, Minister for Food and Drugs Administration, and Harshdeep Kamble, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs Administration.

Shantilal Brothers has it registered office at Earth House at Babu Genu road at Kalbadevi.

As per the inquiry report submitted by the FDA on July 4, 2016 (a copy of which is available with Free Press Journal), “M/s Shantilal Brothers used to submit fake bills in the name of several doctors along with the help of medical representatives. The banned substance was supplied to Dr VR Dev in Pune, Dr NK Agarwal at Nashik, Dr VN Desai at Vasai and Dr BS Jagdale. They used to produce the bills under the names of fake doctors and fake residential addresses.”

Despite repeated calls and text messages, Dyaneshwar Chavan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2), remained unavailable for comment.