ED Recovers ₹1.37 Cr in Cash in Bengaluru Seat Blocking Scam; BMS, Akash, New Horizon Colleges Under Probe
Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has searched five premises in Bengaluru linked to an alleged counterfeit medicines racket and frozen about Rs 9 lakh in bank accounts belonging to Veeresh Kumar, the agency said.
ED’s Bengaluru office carried out the searches under Section 17 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, at premises of persons and entities connected with the alleged racket, according to an ED press release dated November 2. Digital devices, records and incriminating documents belonging to various persons were seized, the agency said.
Case began with a drug control raid
The money-laundering investigation arises from FIR No. 0266/2026, registered on August 18 at Tavarekere police station in Bengaluru South. The FIR followed a joint raid that day by the Drug Controlling Authority and police at a residential property in CK Tandya village, where the accused were found storing medicines and pharmaceutical drugs without a valid licence, permit or authorisation and replacing labels on the stored medicines, the ED said.
The offences registered, under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, are scheduled offences under the PMLA. The ED recorded ECIR No. ECIR/BGZO/45/2026 and began its investigation.
Generic vials relabelled as Pfizer antibiotics, ED alleges
The ED said its investigation found that R. Prashanth allegedly arranged a farmhouse near Bidadi for manufacturing, repackaging and relabelling medicines without a drug licence or permit. Cheap bulk formulations sourced from manufacturing centres in various states were allegedly repackaged into new vials and fraudulently relabelled as expensive Pfizer antibiotics such as Zavicefta and Emblaveo. The vials allegedly contained generic medicines but carried Pfizer-branded labels.
The medicines were allegedly distributed through M/s DM Pharmaceuticals and supplied to M/s Krupa Healthcare, which in turn supplied them to other pharmaceutical entities and hospitals along with genuine medicines, apparently to avoid detection, the agency said. Further investigation is under way.
Earlier in the case
Earlier coverage: Karnataka FDA busts unlicensed drug repacking unit near Bidadi (August) and alleged kingpin Prashanth detained at Bengaluru airport (September).
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