Pramesh S Jain
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bengaluru,has conducted searches at five premises linked to an alleged counterfeit medicines racket involving the fraudulent relabelling of cheap generic drugs as expensive Pfizer antibiotics and their supply to pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.
During the searches conducted on November 2 under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,the ED froze bank accounts belonging to Veeresh Kumar containing approximately Rs 9 lakh.
Digital devices,financial records and incriminating documents belonging to various persons were also seized.
The searches were part of an ongoing money-laundering investigation arising from an FIR registered at Tavarekere police station, Bengaluru South,on August 18, 2026.
The FIR was registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023,and Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
Since these are scheduled offences under the PMLA,the ED registered an Enforcement Case Information Report and initiated a money-laundering investigation.
According to the ED investigation,R.Prashanth allegedly arranged a farmhouse near Bidadi to manufacture, repackage and relabel medicines without obtaining the mandatory drug licence or permits.
Cheap bulk formulations sourced from manufacturing centres in various States were allegedly repackaged into new vials and fraudulently labelled as expensive Pfizer antibiotics, including Zavicefta and Emblaveo.
Although the vials reportedly contained generic medicines, they carried labels bearing the Pfizer brand name.
The counterfeit medicines were allegedly distributed through M/s DM Pharmaceuticals and supplied to M/s Krupa Healthcare.
The latter allegedly supplied them to other pharmaceutical entities and hospitals,mixing them with genuine medicines to avoid detection.
The ED said further investigation was under way to establish the money trail and identify other persons and entities involved in the alleged racket.
