Indian police arrest the owner of a pharmaceutical company linked to the deaths of 21 children in India

Indian police arrested the owner of a pharmaceutical company after cough syrup made at his factory was linked to the deaths of at least 21 children, officials said Thursday.

Most of the children, all under the age of five, died in Madhya Pradesh state last month after they were prescribed drink contaminated with a deadly toxin.

Cough medicines manufactured in India have come under global scrutiny in recent years, with deaths linked to their consumption reported in several countries, damaging its reputation as the third-largest producer of drugs and pharmaceuticals by volume.

J. was arrested. Ranganathan, 75, was arrested early Thursday morning at his home in Chennai by the city and Madhya Pradesh police.

Police sources told AFP and Indian media that the man is accused of premeditated murder, which does not amount to murder, and drug fraud.

The cough syrup, sold under the brand name Coldriv, was manufactured by Srisan Pharma in a unit in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The Indian Health Ministry said on Saturday that tests conducted on the samples showed that they were contaminated with diethylene glycol, a toxic substance used in industrial solvents that can be fatal even if ingested in small quantities.

Madhya Pradesh and several other states have banned the product.

Indian media reports said that the World Health Organization had requested clarification from Indian officials on whether the toxic cough syrup had been exported to other countries.

More than 70 children in Gambia died from acute kidney failure after consuming cough syrup imported from India in 2022.

In Uzbekistan, 68 children died between 2022 and 2023 after ingesting another Contaminated syrup produced in India.

In January 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration collaborated with the World Health Organization and other international partners to investigate the source of the coronavirus. Contaminated cough syrup Which claimed the lives of more than 300 children in Asia and Africa.

India is the third largest pharmaceutical producer by volume after the United States and China, according to Reuters news agency.