New Delhi: Dr Praveen Soni was arrested for the ‘Coldrif‘ cough syrup tragedy, killing 24 children in Madhya Pradesh. With the Special Investigating Team (SIT) investigating the case further, now Soni’s wife was also arrested for aiding her husband.
The accused, Dr. Soni, allegedly prescribed the contaminated cough syrup, resulting in child deaths due to kidney failure. His wife was arrested at her residence in Parasia town of Chhindwara district on Monday, November 3.
The Sub Divisional Office of Police and SIT in-charge Jitnedra Jaat confirmed that Soni’s wife Jyoti was a proprietor of the medical shop, where the Coldrif syrup was sold to the victims. Seven people have been arrested so far in connection with this case.
Sresan Pharma manufactured the syrup, and following the tragedy, the Tamil Nadu government has revoked the license of the pharmaceutical company. Sresan Pharma’s owner, G. Rangantahn, medical representative Sartish Verma, chemist K. Maheshwari, wholesaler Rajesh Soni and pharmacist Sourabh Jain were also arrested in connection with the cough syrup case.
Out of 24 children, most were under the age of 5. Following the tragedy, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an alert against three Indian syrups intensified as ‘substandard’ oral syrups—named Coldrif, Respifresh TR, and ReLife.
Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh governments in action
Earlier, on October 2, the Tamil Nadu director of drug control found out that the Coldrif samples did not match the standard quality of syrups. Later on Madhya Pradesh also reported the same, and the syrup was banned in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal, and Delhi. Despite this, Dr Praveen prescribed the syrup to several children in Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav stated that all the accused in the case shall not be spared. The Tamil Nadu government also sealed Sresan Pharma’s manufacturing unit following the tragedy.