The Madhya Pradesh police have arrested Satish Verma, a medical representative of Sresan Pharma, the manufacturer of the contaminated cough syrup Coldrif, which is suspected to have caused the deaths of 24 children in the state. Verma, who worked for the Tamil Nadu-based company, was apprehended in Chhindwara on the night between Sunday and Monday, police official Jitendra Kumar Jaat confirmed.
Following the tragedy, the Tamil Nadu government revoked the manufacturing licence of Sresan Pharma. So far, six people have been arrested in connection with the case, including:
G Ranganathan, owner of Sresan Pharma
Dr Praveen Soni, Chhindwara-based doctor who allegedly prescribed the syrup
K Maheshwari, chemist
Rajesh Soni, wholesaler
Sourabh Jain, medical store pharmacist
Satish Verma, medical representative
Additional arrests are expected as the investigation continues.
The deaths mostly involved children under the age of five, with at least three cases reported in Rajasthan. Investigations revealed that samples of Coldrif syrup contained 48.6% diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical far above the permissible 0.1% limit. This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue an alert against Coldrif and two other substandard syrups, Respifresh TR and ReLife.
Following the incident, several states including Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal, and Delhi banned the syrup. The MP government suspended the drug controller and assistant drug controller for negligence in testing the samples and formed an SIT to investigate the matter. The Tamil Nadu government also sealed Sresan Pharma’s manufacturing unit.
