Chhindwara, November 13 (IANS). The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Madhya Pradesh police probing the cough syrup tragedy on Thursday took Praveen Soni, one of the accused arrested in the case, into custody for three days. The SIT reached Chhindwara jail on Thursday and returned with Soni after a few minutes.
Police sources told news agency IANS that Soni was taken to Parasia police station in Chhindwara district, where he will be interrogated for three days.
Police sources also said that this development is part of the ongoing investigation. A few days ago, SIT had applied for Soni’s custody in Chhindwara jail.
Senior pediatrician Soni had recommended adulterated cough syrup, which had reportedly led to the death of 25 children in Chhindwara and surrounding districts. He was arrested on October 5 after an FIR was registered against him. Since his arrest, he is lodged in Chhindwara jail.
Recently, the SIT had also arrested Praveen Soni’s wife Jyoti Soni, who owns the pharmacy of Praveen Soni’s private hospital in Parasia block of Chhindwara, where Coldrif syrup was given to most of the children.
Madhya Pradesh Police has arrested seven people in the case, including G Ranganathan, owner of Tamil Nadu-based syrup maker Sreesan Pharmaceuticals, and various people associated with the drug supply chain in Madhya Pradesh.
26 children from Chhindwara, Pandhurna and Betul districts of Madhya Pradesh, most of whom were below five years of age, died due to kidney failure after being given Coldrif cough syrup.
Similarly, at least three children died after drinking cough syrup in the neighboring state of Rajasthan.
Following this tragedy, the World Health Organization issued a warning against three cough syrups identified in India.
Tests conducted by the Madhya Pradesh government confirmed that Coldrif was found to contain 48.6 percent diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical, much higher than the acceptable limit of 0.1 percent.
Following the deaths of the children, the syrup was banned in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal and Delhi.
–IANS
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