7 arrested for selling fungus medicine as 'live-saving' cancer drug

New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested seven people belonging to a racket that manufactured and supplied fake cancer drugs, NDTV reported.

The two of those arrested were employees of a hospital in northwest Delhi's Rohini.

Made from filling Rs 100 worth anti-fungal medicine into empty vials, the group allegedly sold their ‘life saving’ drugs all over India, China and the US for ₹ 1 to 3 lakh per vial, according to the report.

The group is charged with selling adulterated drugs, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

It is revealed that the accused sold more than 7,000 injection over two years into running the operation.

Viphil Jain, the mastermind of the operation, used to work at medical shops and manufactured the fake drug in two flats in DLF Capital Greens, Moti Nagar.

His associate Suraj Shat filled the fake cancer drugs into drug vials illegally procured from hospitals.

Senior police officer Shalini Singh said that 197 empty vials, three cap-sealing machines, 1 heat gun alongside ₹ 50,000 and $1,000 in cash were recovered from the two flats.

As many as 519 empty bottles and 864 packaging boxes were recovered from another accused Neeraj Chauhan.

Chauhan, previously a manager in the oncology department of several hospitals, joined hands with Jain in 2022.

He put to use his knowledge of the cancer drugs to sell fake chemotherapy injections.

Chauhan's cousin Tushar, a lab technician involved in supplying the fake drugs, has also been arrested.

Police seized 20 empty vials from Parvez, a former pharmacist at a cancer hospital, who arranged empty vials.

Komal Tiwari and Abhinay Kohli, employees of a cancer hospital in Delhi, were also arrested.

They used to provide empty vials from the hospital to Jain at ₹ 5,000 each.