Bengaluru: The discovery of the alleged spurious-drug racket earlier this week began with a group of labourers working in an agricultural field and a curious constable who was willing to listen.The labourers at CK Tandya village in Dodderi near Tavarekere in Ramanagara had been noticing something odd. A stockhouse bordering the agricultural land was regularly being used to dump what appeared to be medicine waste consisting of vials, tubes and strange packets filled with foul-smelling powders.One of the labourers eventually decided to speak about it. He approached Shivaraj, a police constable attached to Tavarekere police station, and shared what he had noticed. Instead of brushing aside what could easily have been dismissed as a routine cribbing about waste dumping, Shivaraj took it seriously. He visited the spot in plain clothes, collected samples.The act of curiosity eventually led Ramanagara police to uncover an alleged fake-drug racket involving the repackaging of spurious medicines as expensive products from Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies.“This was how we received the tip-off,” Ramanagara superintendent of police R Srinivas Gowda told TOI. “Shivaraj’s basic policing skills of listening to a labourer and then acting seriously on it yielded the result.”Shivaraj’s findings were subsequently discussed at a crime meeting. Deputy superintendent of police, Magadi division, P Ravi, and his team were tasked with finding out what was happening inside the stockhouse.Their investigation revealed something far more serious than illegal dumping. There was a huge stock of medicines inside the warehouse. Police checked with medical officers to determine whether the premises was a licensed stockhouse or whether any legitimate medicine-related activity was being carried out there. The answer was clear: it was neither a licensed stockhouse nor authorised for any medicine-related work.The police then raided the premises Tuesday.Investigators allege that the racket involved procuring cheap, spurious medicines from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana and passing them off as products manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.According to police, medicines were being repacked and relabelled as Pfizer products before being sold for as much as Rs 7,000 per unit.The investigation has so far led to the arrest of four people, while the alleged kingpin is in Dubai.Police identified the alleged mastermind as R Prashant, 36, a medical representative and resident of Papareddy Palya, who is presently based in Dubai.“Prashant leased the stockhouse from one Siddaiah around 11 months ago. He had worked as a medical representative in Bengaluru and different places in Telangana,” an investigating officer said.Police suspect Prashant operated the racket with the help of pharmacist Venkatesh, proprietor of Bangalore Special Life in Chamrajpet. Cops said the duo sourced the fake medicines from Himachal Pradesh and Telangana.
