Fake COVID drugs case: Director of Odisha firm, 2 others held

The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a director of Medilloyd Medicament Private Ltd and two other key officials of the dubious pharma company, said YK Jethwa, the Additional DG (Crime Branch).

The STF froze multiple bank accounts linked to those arrested and the company. The accounts contained more Rs 50 lakh, he said.

The Cuttack-based firm had conspired to procure Favimax tablets from Max Relief Health Care, a non-existent company, at a rate of Rs 65 per strip of 10 tablets and sell them at Rs 1,290 per strip, he said.

Max Relief HealthCare is another dubious company, claiming to be manufacturing drugs in Solan in Himachal Pradesh, the officer said.

"This dubious company was run by two people. Both of them were arrested by Mumbai Police earlier this month. It was also learnt that cases were registered against these two persons in other states as well," Jethwa said.

Multiple teams were formed to investigate the matter, including looking into the network in other states, he said.

At present, three teams are investigating the matter in Odisha, Maharashtra and West Bengal, he added.

Those arrested from Cuttack were booked under different sections of the IPC and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940, the officer said.

The trio was allegedly dealing in FAVIMAX-200 and FAVIMAX-400, which are variants of Favipiravir, he said.