Gurgaon: Two persons, who ran a blood pressure medicine racket in the city, the trail of which went to UP, Bihar and Delhi, have been arrested.Those arrested include Subrat Dwivedi from Delhi and Zubair from UP, who runs his business in Patna. Officials suspect Zubair was a key supplier in the interstate network.After the district food and drug administration (FDA) acted on a tip-off, counterfeit strips of the widely prescribed blood pressure medicine Telma-AM were traced to the supply chain stretching from Patna to the Delhi-based wholesaler and medical stores in the city.Acting on the disclosure of Dwivedi, who was arrested on Saturday, drug controller Mukesh Kumar, assisted by Delhi Police, conducted a raid in Moradabad (UP) and arrested Zubair on Sunday. He was brought to Gurgaon for questioning as investigators attempt to identify others involved in the supply chain.District drug controller Amandeep Chauhan said the accused said they turned to counterfeit medicines because customers demanded heavy discounts that genuine medicines could not offer. “We have recovered 178 strips of counterfeit Telma-AM so far. Our investigation shows that around 1,700 strips were procured. Each strip has an MRP of about Rs 350. We are now tracing where the remaining stock was supplied,” Chauhan said.Investigators are now probing what they believe is a wider interstate network involved in the manufacture and distribution of fake medicines. Officials said Zubair was previously arrested in a counterfeit medicines case in 2025 and spent 22 days in Tihar Jail before securing bail. Police are verifying whether the earlier case is linked to the present investigation.The investigation began on July 16 after the city drug control office received information that counterfeit tablets (Telmisartan 40 mg + Amlodipine 5 mg) were being sold at select medical stores across the district. Chauhan informed FDA commissioner Manoj Kumar and state drug controller Ripan Mehta, who directed an immediate investigation.A joint team led by senior district drug controller Gurcharan Singh, along with Chauhan, Mukesh Kumar and Suresh Kumar, examined purchase bills and stock records at several medical stores. The paper trail led investigators to an Okhla-based wholesale firm, Shri Balaji Forium, in Delhi, which had supplied the medicine.With assistance from the city police, coordinated through ACP Dharamvir Singh, the FDA team raided the wholesale premises in Okhla. During the raid, investigators found that the firm had supplied the suspected counterfeit medicine. The purchase invoices produced by the firm’s operator, Dwivedi, were allegedly forged.Dwivedi was produced before a city court, which remanded him to three days of police custody. During interrogation, investigators were led to the alleged source of the medicines — Zubair, the supplier.The recovered stock bore Batch No 05251007A and carried the label of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd’s manufacturing facility in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. When contacted by the drug department, the company confirmed in writing that it had not manufactured the batch, establishing it as a spurious drug under Section 17B(e) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The offence attracts stringent penalties under Sections 27(a) and 27(c) of the Act.Telma-AM is commonly prescribed for the treatment of hypertension. Officials warned that counterfeit versions of the medicine could leave patients’ blood pressure uncontrolled, increasing the risk of serious complications such as stroke, heart attack and kidney damage. The department has urged hospitals, pharmacies and the public to buy medicines only from authorised distributors and immediately report any doubts regarding a drug’s authenticity, packaging or source.Calling it the fifth major fake drug bust by the city drug department, Chauhan said further arrests were likely as the investigation progressed.Senior district drug controller Gurcharan said Haryana health minister Aarti Rao had directed the department to take strict action against anyone endangering public health through the manufacture or sale of counterfeit medicines. “Anyone found involved in such activities will face stringent legal action under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and other applicable laws,” Singh said.
