2 Amritsar doctors arrested for illegal Tramadol tablets supply

Amritsar: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested two doctors from a private hospital in the city for allegedly supplying illegal tramadol tablets to private hospitals in Amritsar. A retired government doctor, who is currently absconding, is also involved in the case.

The NCB officials have launched an investigation and are conducting raids to locate and arrest him. He has been named as a co-accused in the case and appeared for questioning only once, despite being summoned twice by the NCB.

The arrested doctors have been identified as Dr Rajesh Kumar and Dr Parveen. They will be produced before the court tomorrow to obtain their police remand for further interrogation.

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Tramadol, an opioid pain medication, is a psychotropic substance, and its export is restricted under section 8(c) of the DPS Act, 1985. Tramadol was notified as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act in 2018, according to the Government of India.

As per The Tribune news report, the arrests follow the NCB's previous detention of the hospital owner, Baudh Raj, along with other accused, including two private hospital doctors - Dr Jatinder Malhotra and Dr Rajinder Rajan, whose bail hearing is scheduled before the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 9. Dr Parveen had also filed for anticipatory bail in the case.

Earlier on May 6, 2025, several others were arrested in connection with the case, including a web journalist, pharmaceutical company owner Deepak Bhandari, his brother Amit Bhandari, and two private hospital doctors. Several other members of the Bhandari family were also named in the case.

Over 30,000 tramadol tablets were seized from Amit Bhandari, who was first arrested on May 2, 2025. The next day, Dr Malhotra and Dr Rajan were arrested after 2,000 tramadol tablets were recovered from each of them without valid licences to store such psychotropic drugs.

Medical Dialogues recently reported that the Punjab Police has seized more than 1 lakh Tramadol tablets and arrested one person in Amritsar after busting a supply chain of psychotropic drugs. A total of 1,08,000 Tramadol tablets were recovered from Jobanjit Singh alias Joban, who was travelling in a car.

Also read- Amritsar: 1.08 lakh Tramadol tablets seized, 1 held