Spurious drugs racket kingpin R. Prashanth arrested at Bengaluru airport

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing a spurious drugs manufacturing and sale racket has arrested the alleged kingpin, R. Prashanth, who had been evading authorities since the case surfaced. He was taken into custody at Kempegowda International Airport as he returned to Bengaluru from abroad, investigation sources said on September 28.

A lookout notice had been issued against Prashanth, who is believed to have been hiding in Azerbaijan after the racket came to light. His arrest is said to have followed from the statement of another accused, Veeresh Jain, who runs a shop at Minerva Circle in Bengaluru.

After being detained, Prashanth was taken for a medical examination and then brought to the Bengaluru City Police Commissioner's office, where SIT officials are recording his preliminary statement. The team is expected to produce him before a judge later in the day.

The case traces back to an August raid by the Tavarekere police on a farm house near Bidadi, where suspected counterfeit medicines worth about ₹5 crore were seized along with fake bills, injection-filling equipment and counterfeit labels. Prashanth is alleged to have escaped during that operation, after which an SIT was constituted to investigate the wider network.

Veeresh Kumar Jain, a Rajasthan native and proprietor of Krupa Healthcare near Minerva Circle, was arrested during multi-State raids on September 12. Investigators suspect him to be a close associate of Prashanth. The two are alleged to have run the racket for nearly five years, supplying fake medicines to major hospitals at heavily discounted prices. The probe is examining their alleged operations in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Mumbai.

Jain was produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court on September 16, which granted the SIT custody to determine his role and gather details of the racket's operations and logistics.

Separately, on September 21, Karnataka's Department of Health and Family Welfare suspended Omkareshwar, Assistant Drug Controller in the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FDA), Chamarajpet. Department officials said he had failed to inspect the counterfeit drugs at Krupa Healthcare, located within his jurisdiction, and had not acted against the distributor.