In a concerning development, an Ahmedabad-based business owner has lodged a police complaint after receiving counterfeit Azithromycin tablets from a supplier. These tablets were originally intended for the State Health Department and the stock involved amounted to a staggering 1600 kg, valued at nearly Rs. one and a half crore.
Ashish Vinodara, who oversees his wife’s company, R.H. Enterprises, has been managing the firm since 2014. R.H. Enterprises specialises in liaising with Gujarat government medicine tenders. During the pandemic period (2020-2021), Medizest Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd secured a tender to supply medicines to the Gujarat government. As part of this arrangement, Medizest requested Ashish to provide Azithromycin Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API). Ashish promptly informed Bhavin Patel, the General Manager of R.H. Enterprises, who then introduced him to Yash Patel from I.T. Enterprise.
R.H. Enterprises paid a substantial sum of Rs. 1.47 crores to I.T. Enterprises for the 1600 kg of Azithromycin, which was subsequently delivered to Medizest Pharmaceuticals. However, on April 3, 2021, Medizest alerted Ashish that the material contained absolutely no Azithromycin content. They provided an analysis report confirming the lack of authenticity.
When Ashish confronted Bhavin, the latter assured him that he would address the issue with Yash regarding replacement material. Despite repeated reminders, neither Bhavin nor Yash delivered the promised replacement. To Ashish’s dismay, further investigation revealed that Bhavin and Yash had fraudulently used R.H. Enterprises’ drug license numbers in a purchase order to Shalibhadra International, obtaining Montelukast API.
The police have taken action, registering a case against Bhavin and Yash under IPC Sections 406, 420, 114, 465, 468 and 471.
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