4 held as Bengaluru SIT probes fake medicine racket

BENGALURU: The state administration on Thursday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the Bengaluru City Police and office-holders from the Drugs Control Department to probe the massive counterfeit and spurious medicine racket that was busted by the Food Safety.

Key points

• The SIT will be headed by 2009 batch IPS officer C Vamsi Krishna, presently serving as Joint Commissioner of Police (West).
• The accused who have been arrested are identified as V Prabhudev, Tejas, Naveen and Venkatesh.
• After taking the four accused into custody, took them to the farm house on Thursday for the spot mahazar, the Tavarekere police.

What happened

Meanwhile, the SIT will be headed by 2009 batch IPS officer C Vamsi Krishna, presently serving as Joint Commissioner of Police (West). The SIT will take the four accused arrested by the local police into their custody.

For context, the accused who have been arrested are identified as V Prabhudev, Tejas, Naveen and Venkatesh. The police had initially arrested Prabhudev followed by Tejas and Naveen on Tuesday and Wednesday. Venkatesh who was working as the medicine distributor is the fourth person to be arrested. Other members in the SIT team are IPS officers Shivaprakash Devaraju, Lokesh B Jagalasar; Manjunatha Reddy, Assistant Drugs Controller, Bengaluru Urban; Namratha Hallur, Assistant Drugs Controller, Bengaluru South District; and Neha Murgi, Food Inspector, Bengaluru South district.

Meanwhile, the SIT will function under the supervision of the Extra Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order, Police Headquarters, Bengaluru and submit reports on the progress of the investigation to the State Police Chief. After taking the four accused into custody, took them to the farm house on Thursday for the spot mahazar, the Tavarekere police. The main accused, Prashanth, is presently abroad. The mobile phones of all the accused have been recovered and are being examined.

The bottom line

For now, 4 held as Bengaluru SIT probes fake medicine racket remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.