Fake Medicines in Vidarbha: Shocking Cases from Hospitals and Markets (2020–2025)

thenewsdirt
Jun 6
10 min read

Vidarbha, a region in eastern Maharashtra, has witnessed several alarming cases of fake medicines in recent years. From life-saving COVID-19 drugs to common antibiotics, counterfeit or substandard medications have infiltrated hospitals and markets in Vidarbha.

These incidents reported between 2020 and 2025 expose how unscrupulous players took advantage of vulnerable patients and strained healthcare systems.

Authorities have uncovered multiple rackets in Vidarbha’s cities (notably Nagpur and nearby districts), revealing bogus pharmaceutical suppliers and talcum-laced pills reaching unsuspecting patients.

COVID-19 Fake Drug Scam in Nagpur (2021)

During the devastating second wave of COVID-19, demand for the antiviral Remdesivir spiked, and Vidarbha was not spared from exploitation.

In April 2021, Nagpur police busted a fraud involving fake Remdesivir injections amid the region’s COVID crisis.

Two men, both X-ray technicians in their 20s, were arrested in Nagpur’s Sakkardara area for selling what turned out to be counterfeit Remdesivir vials filled with plain water. They had approached a family desperate to obtain the drug for a hospitalised relative, initially quoting an exorbitant price of ₹40,000 per vial and “settling” at ₹28,000.

The relative became suspicious of the packaging and content of the vials and alerted the police. In a sting operation, officers set a trap and caught the suspects while they attempted to deliver the bogus injections on a city flyover. Seven phials were recovered in this raid. Both accused, identified as Abhilash Petkar (28) and Aniket Nandeshwar (21), had been exploiting the shortage of genuine Remdesivir, which was in life-saving demand at that time.

The two men were promptly charged and taken into custody, with police searching their homes for any additional evidence. This swift action likely prevented the fake vials from being administered to any patient.

The case underscored the dire consequences of counterfeit COVID-19 drugs. Patients in critical need could have been given useless injections, losing precious treatment time or even their lives.

While no injuries or deaths were reported from this Nagpur scam (thanks to the relative’s vigilance), it highlighted how criminal elements preyed on public panic during the pandemic, and it spurred authorities in Vidarbha to remain alert for black-market drug operations. Indeed, similar crackdowns occurred throughout 2021 as police arrested several groups for hoarding or faking COVID medications.

The Enforcement Directorate later attached assets of suspects in some fake Remdesivir cases in Maharashtra, reflecting the broader investigation into such pandemic-related frauds. The Nagpur incident stands out as a cautionary tale that even front-line medical workers (like the arrested technicians) were complicit in betraying the public’s trust for profit.

Spurious Antibiotics Racket Exposed in Vidarbha Hospitals (2022–2024)

After the pandemic, Vidarbha faced an even more insidious threat within its healthcare system: fake antibiotics supplied to government hospitals.

A major racket came to light in 2023–24 when routine quality tests and police investigations revealed that thousands of antibiotic tablets given to patients in Vidarbha were essentially placebos made of talcum powder and starch. This multi-crore scam unfolded in phases.

In early 2023, Drug Inspector Nitin Bhandarkar of the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected samples of ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets from the Rural Hospital in Kalmeshwar tehsil (about 40 km from Nagpur).

Ciprofloxacin is a common antibiotic prescribed for infections from urinary tract ailments to pneumonia. The samples were sent to the state laboratory in Mumbai for analysis.

Nearly nine months later, in December 2023, the lab report returned with a shocking result.

The tablets contained no active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) at all. In other words, these pills had none of the medicinal compounds (ciprofloxacin) required to treat infections.

They were chemically inert. By the time this report confirmed the tablets were fake, a huge quantity had already been dispensed to patients. Investigators determined that around 4 lakh (400,000) of these counterfeit antibiotic tablets had been distributed in 2022–2023 to government hospitals across Nagpur district.

Only about 5% of the stock (21,600 tablets) could be seized by the time the fraud was discovered; the remaining ~95% had already been consumed by unwitting patients. Patients with infections who took these pills received no real medicine, potentially prolonging illnesses or worsening health outcomes. Sources in the FDA expressed grave concern that hundreds of patients in rural Nagpur were affected before the truth came out.

The bogus pills were sold under the name “Recip-500,” purporting to be ciprofloxacin hydrochloride 500 mg. Instead of containing this antibiotic, they were made of filler substances (later identified as talcum powder and starch upon forensic examination). Essentially, the pills were “junk antibiotics” with zero germ-killing capability.

Upon confirmation of the spurious drugs, the FDA and police launched an investigation that uncovered a sophisticated supply chain of fake pharmaceutical suppliers.

The Kalmeshwar case was just the tip of the iceberg. A Nagpur-based government medical store had procured these ciprofloxacin tablets through an official e-tender process in 2022.

The tender was won by Jaya Enterprises, a supplier based in Latur, Maharashtra. The proprietor of Jaya Enterprises, Hemant Dhondiba Mule, turned out to be a link in the chain: he had sourced the stock from another firm in Bhiwandi (near Mumbai) run by Mihir Shashikant Trivedi. Trivedi, in turn, pointed to a Thane-based distributor, Vijay Shailendra Chaudhary, owner of Cabhis Generic House, as the origin of the fake pills.

Chaudhary was a key figure who had actually been arrested earlier in a similar fake drug case and was out on bail. As these three were implicated, authorities unravelled further layers.

Chaudhary produced forged paperwork to pretend he had obtained the drugs from a Haryana supplier (a fictitious “KP Medical Agency” that led investigators to a non-existent address).

When pressed, Chaudhary eventually confessed to sourcing counterfeit medicines from two brothers, Robin and Raman Taneja, based in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The Taneja brothers were later arrested and admitted they had partnered with Chaudhary and others during the pandemic to make quick money through fake drugs.

A criminal case was registered under various IPC sections (420 for cheating, 467 and 468 for forgery, among others) and under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for the supply of spurious medicine. The Kalmeshwar police in Nagpur district booked at least three key accused, Vijay Chaudhary, Hemant Mule, and Mihir Trivedi, in connection with the fake ciprofloxacin racket. Chaudhary, already jailed in another bogus drug case, was identified as the prime accused, with Mule and Trivedi as his accomplices.

Investigators discovered the counterfeit tablets had been manufactured by a phony pharmaceutical company named “Refined Pharma, Gujarat,” which in reality did not exist.

The packaging also included forged certificates. A fake Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) document supposedly from Kerala’s drug authority and an analysis certificate from a non-existent lab, “Evertouch Bio-Remedies” in Thrissur.

All such paperwork turned out to be fabricated by the culprits using templates found online. With evidence mounting, Nagpur Rural Police and FDA officers expanded the probe. They lodged multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) not only in Nagpur but also in other districts, including Wardha in Vidarbha (as well as far-flung places like Thane), where the same fake batches had been supplied.

A special investigation team led by DySP Anil Mhaske (Nagpur Rural) was formed to pursue the interstate links.

The trail led to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, where the Uttarakhand Special Task Force raided a factory named Dwarika Natural Formulations run by Amit Dhiman.

This facility, originally licensed to make veterinary medicines, was allegedly repurposed to churn out fake human drugs using industrial mixers and pill presses. Large quantities of raw talcum powder, starch, and other excipients were seized from the site. Dhiman was arrested and reportedly confessed that he manufactured the counterfeit tablets on demand for the Taneja brothers.

In total, by late 2024, police had filed a 1,200-page charge sheet naming more than half a dozen individuals in the conspiracy. They also uncovered an illicit financial trail of at least ₹4 crore in proceeds from the fake drug sales was traced, with indications of money laundering through hawala channels.

The Enforcement Directorate was apprised to investigate the money laundering aspect. Notably, the gang had generated over ₹15 crore of revenue by supplying fake medicines under the guise of various shell companies over a couple of years. The range of drugs involved was broad, besides ciprofloxacin, they faked other common antibiotics such as levofloxacin, amoxicillin-clavulanate (Augmentin), cefixime, and azithromycin, marketing them under the names of defunct firms.

Nagpur Government Medical College Hospital (GMCH) case (2023–2024)

Even as the Kalmeshwar investigation was ongoing, a similar incident surfaced at Nagpur’s largest public hospital.

In mid-2023, the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Nagpur unwittingly distributed a massive batch of fake Reclav-625 tablets, an antibiotic combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid (often used to treat respiratory and skin infections).

About 77,000 tablets of Reclav-625 were procured via an online tender around July 2023 and dispensed to patients over the following weeks. At the time, nothing seemed amiss. It was only a year later, in August 2024, that a lab test report revealed these tablets too contained no active ingredients, neither amoxicillin nor clavulanate.

The FDA inspector had actually collected a sample from GMCH’s pharmacy back in August 2023 as part of routine surveillance. But due to delays in analysis, the report confirming the drugs were spurious came in late 2024, after the entire stock had been consumed by patients.

Once the Mumbai lab declared the GMCH sample as “no drug present,” the Nagpur FDA filed a complaint and an FIR was registered at Ajni police station (Nagpur) in October 2024.

Investigators found that this GMCH batch was part of the same supply chain linked to Vijay Chaudhary and his associates. Chaudhary was already arrested in the Kalmeshwar case, and was named as an accused in the GMCH case as well.

The tender for Reclav-625 had been awarded to a Kolhapur-based firm (owned by one Suresh Patil), which sourced it from Surat (through one Priti Trivedi), who in turn got it from Mihir Trivedi’s outfit in Bhiwandi, ultimately tracing back to Chaudhary’s fake pharma network in Thane.

Thus, four individuals in the supplier chain were booked: Chaudhary and Mihir Trivedi (both already in custody by then), and Priti Trivedi and Suresh Patil (who were still absconding as of the FIR).

The labels on the fake Reclav-625 boxes claimed to be manufactured by “Mrystal Formulations, Kotdwar (Uttarakhand)”, an entirely fictitious company/address, just like the fake Gujarat manufacturer in the other case. GMCH’s administration, embarrassed by the lapse, announced it would bar the fraudulent supplier from all future contracts and tightened its procurement protocols. Senior doctors at GMCH pointed out that had the lab results come sooner, they would have immediately pulled the drugs off the shelves to prevent further use.

Impact on Patients and Public in Vidarbha

Impact of Fake Medicines on Patients and Public in Vidarbha — Impact on Patients and Public in Vidarbha

These confirmed cases of fake medicines in Vidarbha have had a palpable impact on ordinary people and the healthcare community.

Health consequences for patients were the most immediate concern. In rural areas, illiterate or poor patients trusted the free medicines handed out at civil hospitals, unaware that some were ineffective counterfeits.

Some may have suffered prolonged illness or complications when their infections did not respond to the dummy tablets. The fact that tens of thousands of fake antibiotic doses were consumed by Vidarbha patients before detection illustrates the scale of potential harm. Even though, by sheer luck, no specific fatalities were attributed to these incidents, doctors warn that any delay or failure in proper treatment can be life-threatening in severe infections.

During the COVID-19 wave, the fake Remdesivir scam in Nagpur preyed on the anxiety of families struggling to save loved ones. Had the water-filled vials been administered, critical COVID patients would have been deprived of a genuine antiviral dose, possibly worsening outcomes.

Beyond individual health, there has been an erosion of public trust in the medical supply chain. People in Vidarbha have been alarmed to learn that even government-run hospitals, which they rely on as a safety net, were not immune to fake medicine infiltration.

The image of “talcum powder pills” being handed out in place of real antibiotics caused public outrage and fear.

Civil society and opposition voices in Nagpur and other Vidarbha districts demanded stronger oversight and accountability.

There were calls for the FDA to increase random testing and for swift action against negligent officials. Indeed, the government has since ramped up inspections of drug suppliers.

Maharashtra’s FDA conducted statewide raids to crack down on spurious drug manufacturers and pushed for better inter-state coordination after seeing how the Vidarbha racket spanned multiple states.

Economically, patients who were unwitting victims of fake medicines possibly incurred extra costs: when their condition didn’t improve, they might have needed longer courses of treatment or expensive interventions later.

The state also bore costs, from investigating the scams to prosecuting the culprits and then sourcing replacement stocks of medicine.

In Nagpur’s GMCH case, for instance, the entire batch had to be written off and new antibiotics procured, alongside efforts to notify patients for follow-up checks (though officially no adverse event was noted).

On a positive note, these cases have led to policy and enforcement improvements. By 2025, authorities were imposing stricter verification of pharmaceutical tender participants and performing background checks on new suppliers.

The FDA also committed to reducing testing backlog so that reports on drug quality come within weeks, not months. Law enforcement in Vidarbha has shown that it can collaborate across state lines. The Nagpur Police worked with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand counterparts to arrest key figures of the fake drug syndicate.

Courts have also taken note. Suspects like Robin Taneja, one of the ringleaders, were initially granted bail but then had it revoked on appeal, given the severity of the crime. Prosecutors have strategically added forgery and conspiracy charges (which carry heavier penalties) on top of drug law violations to ensure the accused cannot slip away with light punishment.

Most importantly, these incidents have been a wake-up call for the public in Vidarbha. '

Patients are now more aware of the need to verify medicines, some government hospitals have even put up notices on how to spot genuine drug packaging and encouraged people to report any suspicious medicines.

While the layperson can't test a pill’s contents, this heightened vigilance and community reporting can help. The government, on its part, has vowed to make examples of the offenders, stressing that endangering lives with fake medicines is a heinous crime.

Vidarbha’s tryst with fake medicines between 2020 and 2025 has exposed dangerous cracks in the system, but has also led to decisive action.

The region’s common people, having been directly affected by these scams, are now demanding and hopefully getting a safer healthcare environment where every pill in the bottle is what it claims to be.