Indian police have arrested the proprietor of a pharmaceutical firm after a cough syrup made at his plant was linked to the deaths of at the very least 21 youngsters, officers mentioned on Thursday.
A lot of the youngsters, all aged beneath 5, died in Madhya Pradesh state over the previous month after they had been prescribed the syrup, which was contaminated with a lethal toxin.
Cough syrups manufactured in India have come beneath world scrutiny in recent times, with deaths linked to their consumption reported in a number of international locations, damaging its fame because the third-largest producer of medication and prescribed drugs by quantity.
G. Ranganathan, 75, was arrested early on Thursday morning at his house in Chennai by police from town and from Madhya Pradesh.
He was charged with culpable murder not amounting to homicide and adulteration of medication, police sources instructed AFP and Indian media reported.
The cough syrup, offered beneath the model title Coldrif, was manufactured by Sresan Pharma at a unit within the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The Indian well being ministry mentioned on Saturday exams on samples confirmed they had been contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG), a poisonous substance utilized in industrial solvents that may be deadly even when ingested in small quantities.
Madhya Pradesh and several other different states have banned the product.
A discover by the native drug administration is displayed on the sealed medical clinic of a physician accused of prescribing cough syrup linked to the deaths of a number of youngsters, in Parasia, in Madhya Pradesh, India, October 9, 2025.
Priyanshu Singh / REUTERS
Indian media reviews mentioned the World Well being Group had sought clarification from Indian officers about whether or not the poisonous cough syrup had been exported to different international locations.
Greater than 70 youngsters died in Gambia from acute kidney failure after consuming a cough syrup imported from India in 2022.
In Uzbekistan, 68 youngsters died between 2022 and 2023 after consuming one other contaminated syrup produced in India.
In January 2023, the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration partnered with the World Well being Group and different worldwide companions to research the supply of contaminated cough syrups that killed greater than 300 youngsters in Asia and Africa.
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