Report: Manmeen Walia, New Delhi
The Cyber Cell of Crime Branch, Delhi Police has busted another major racket involved in the illegal manufacturing and supply of spurious medicines and fake cosmetic products. This action has dealt a strong blow to the organised fake pharmaceutical and cosmetic network.
Earlier, two accused persons, Shree Ram and Gaurav Bhagat, were arrested in this case. During police custody, accused Shree Ram revealed the involvement of Pramod Kumar Gupta, who was supplying fake Betnovate-C ointment and running an illegal manufacturing unit.
Based on sustained interrogation and technical surveillance, Pramod Kumar Gupta was traced and arrested from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station at around 12:30 PM.
At the instance of the accused, a raid was conducted at an illegal manufacturing unit located in Village Bijwasan, Delhi. The unit was operating from a rented farmhouse. The Drug Inspector inspected the premises and collected necessary samples.
A large quantity of raw material, finished products, packing material, and manufacturing machinery was recovered from the spot.
A representative of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) was called at the spot. After checking the seized cosmetic products, the representative confirmed that the recovered Fair & Lovely and Veet creams were completely fake and not manufactured by HUL.
During investigation, it was revealed that the accused had burnt around 25 cartons containing about 27,000 tubes of fake Betnovate-C ointment after one of his associates was arrested. After this, he locked the unit and fled to another state.
It was also found that the accused was earlier involved in FIR No. 142/06 under Section 63 of the Copyright Act at PS Sadar Bazar, Delhi.
Around 600 kg of Stearic Acid, empty boxes, packaging and manufacturing machines, and about 800 boxes each of Fair & Lovely cream and Veet hair removal cream have been recovered.
Further investigation is in progress to trace the source of raw materials and the distribution network, so that the entire fake medicine and cosmetic supply chain can be completely dismantled.
The operation was carried out by a team led by Inspector Manjeet Kumar, including ASI Kanwarpal, HCs Vipin, Sohanpal, Rajesh, Anuj, and Ct. Sachin, under the supervision of ACP Anil Sharma.
DCP Crime Branch, Aditya Gautam, appreciated the dedicated efforts of the Cyber Cell team and said such strict action will continue against those involved in manufacturing and selling fake medicines and cosmetics, to protect public health and safety.
