The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) official in the national capital for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 4 lakh.
The arrested officials have been identified as Joint Drugs Controller (JDC) S. Eswara Reddy and Director of a Delhi-based private company Synergy Network India Private Limited Dinesh Dua. The duo was apprehended on Monday for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh to waive the phase III clinical trial of Insulin Aspart injection, an under development product of Bangalore-based Biocon Biologics to manage Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Biocon Biologics is a subsidiary of the Kiran Mazumdar Shaw-led Biocon. The company has denied the allegations.
“They both were apprehended on Monday during searches at the DCGI office in Delhi and are now arrested,” a CBI official told ANI. “It was alleged that the accused was trying to exert undue influence on the officers of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) under Directorate General of Health Services of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to waive the Phase III trial of Insulin Aspart Injection.
It was further alleged that the accused agreed to pay a bribe amount of Rs 9,00,000 to JDC, CDSCO for favourably processing the said three files related to the private company based in Bangalore and also for favourable recommending of the file of “Insulin Aspart injection” to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) meeting,” the CBI said.
CBI laid a trap on Monday and arrested both the bribe giver and receiver. The CBI nabbed the JDC of CDSCO accepting a bribe of said amount from Dua.
The CBI has also booked Associate VP and Head-National Regulatory Affairs (NRA), Biocon Biologics Limited, L. Praveen Kumar, as well as Director, Bioinnovat Research Services Private Limited, Delhi, Guljit Sethi in the case under the IPC sections dealing with criminal conspiracy and corruption.
In connection with the aforesaid case, searches were conducted at 11 places in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Patna, and Bengaluru which led to the recovery of incriminating documents/articles on Monday. Further investigation into the matter is underway.