Lucknow: Food Safety and Drug Administration uncovered a counterfeit medicine racket in Lucknow, showing medicines worth Rs 8.87 crore as purchased through fake invoices, despite manufacturers denying any such sales.Based on FSDA’s complaint, Aminabad police registered FIR against four persons linked to three firms in Lucknow and a defunct firm in Saharanpur under various provisions of the BNS.The probe centres on MK Pharma, which recorded purchases worth Rs 8.87 crore during FY 2025-26. During verification of invoices for medicines, manufacturers denied supplying the products to the firm. Batches mentioned in the invoices were found to be counterfeit.FSDA officials also suspect tampering with evidence, alleging that data stored on a laptop used by the firm had been deleted.A key finding involves Rs 39.2 lakh worth of a medicine, which could not be accounted for in the firm’s records. Officials suspect the medicines may have been diverted into the market through unauthorised channels, posing a serious public health risk.A network of firms used to create a paper trail for medicine transactions.According to FSDA, Ankur Awasthi, proprietor of Health Plus, stored and traded medicines without a valid drug licence. Govind Shukla, his business partner, is also under investigation. Officials suspect Health Plus and Ram Pharma were used to facilitate undocumented movement of medicines.Patient Care Surgical House in Saharanpur, shut for nearly two years, was used to generate fictitious purchase and sale records.Police registered cases against Ankur Awasthi, Manish Bajpai, Govind Shukla and Ejaz Ahmed.In July, FSDA officials seized counterfeit medicines worth Rs 21 lakh from an illegal warehouse in Aminabad. Similar cases involving illegal storage, transportation and fake billing surfaced in Alambagh, BKT and Agra.Authorities are scrutinising invoices, financial records and supply chains to trace the source of suspected fake medicines.
