Delhi Police bust Rs 9-crore anti-cancer drug racket, 17 arrested

Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested 17 people and recovered hundreds of vials of life-saving anti-cancer medicines, busting an alleged multi-state racket involving counterfeit and illegally diverted drugs worth around Rs 9 crore, an officer said on Thursday.The team recovered 588 filled anti-cancer vials, six empty vials, seven empty medicine boxes, 3,021 units of other medicines and around Rs 50 lakh in cash. The recovered medicines include Darzalex, Imfinzi, Erbitux, Opdyta, Gazyva, Bavencio, Adcetris and Keytruda, which are mainly used to treat different types of cancer.Police said the probe began on June 22 after the Crime Branch received secret inputs about the racket. Verification identified suspicious premises in East Delhi, Rohini and Mumbai.Seven teams then carried out simultaneous raids on July 11 in Delhi and Navi Mumbai in coordination with the drugs department and local police. Subsequent interrogation, disclosures and searches led to the arrests, the officer said. "The syndicate had supply links across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other locations," the police officer said.Police said the group obtained medicines through three channels – counterfeit drugs bought from unauthorised sources, medicines allegedly misappropriated from hospitals and meant for cancer patients, and government-supplied medicines diverted from government institutions and warehouses. "The medicines were allegedly procured without valid invoices, purchase records, drug licences or other lawful documents and stored at residential and other premises before being distributed through intermediaries," the officer said.Police said original cartons and empty boxes were kept for repackaging, while batch numbers, MRP details and other identifying marks were allegedly removed using chemicals such as acetone.Thermocol boxes, bubble rolls, adhesive tape and polythene were used to prepare consignments. Registers and diaries recording medicine and cash transactions were also recovered.The arrested accused include Abhishek Vaishya, 26, and brothers Shubham Kumar Chaudhary, 25, and Suraj Chaudhary, 22, all from Laxmi Nagar. Police said Vaishya, educated up to Class 12, had allegedly been procuring and supplying the medicines since 2022.Registers, devices, packaging material, medicines and Rs 4 lakh were recovered from him. Shubham was allegedly involved since 2023 and Rs 23 lakh was recovered from him, while Suraj allegedly joined the trade in 2024.Gagan, 28, of Indirapuram, a wholesale medicine trader, allegedly sourced injections from Satish Kumar, 30, of Govindpuri, a former medical store salesperson, and supplied them to Vaishya. Mukesh, 30, of Gurugram, who had worked at a relative's medical store, allegedly had been procuring drugs from hospitals since 2023. Police said 12 vials, medicines, packaging material and Rs 16.5 lakh were recovered from his vehicle.Ayush Kumar, 23, a B. Com graduate from Patna and operator of a medicine firm in Navi Mumbai, allegedly sourced drugs from Gagan. Vishwas Tyagi, 35, of Ghaziabad, who runs a medicine firm, allegedly facilitated invoices without corresponding supplies. B. Pharma-qualified medical store owner Paramjeet Sheoran, 34, of Jhajjar, allegedly distributed the medicines further down the chain, and nine vials were recovered from him.Anand Kumar, 42, of Noida, a B. Com graduate and former pharmaceutical firm operator in Dhanbad, allegedly acted as a key intermediary, and 337 anti-cancer vials were recovered from him.In Hyderabad, medical store owner Srinivasulu Kalva, 52, allegedly received drugs from a hospital, while former hospital worker Ramdas Satish Kumar, 42, allegedly misappropriated medicines. B. Pharma-qualified hospital employee Malugari Srinath Reddy, 35, allegedly supplied medicines meant for patients.Mayank Garg, 35, of Gurugram, who has been running a pharmaceutical firm since 2014, allegedly sourced hospital medicines, and 55 vials were recovered from him. Deepak alias Ravi, 33, of Faridabad, a dental technician and former personal assistant to an oncologist, allegedly received vials from nursing staff; 108 vials and Rs 6.5 lakh were recovered from him.Jaswant Sharma, 42, a nursing-qualified in-charge in an oncology department, allegedly removed medicines from a hospital, while Manish Sharma, 28, a nursing-qualified worker from Alwar, allegedly misappropriated injections meant for patients.Police said his arrest led to the recovery of five filled and four empty vials. Police also said electronic devices, documents and packaging material were seized."The Crime Branch is tracing the complete supply and financial network, identifying end beneficiaries and examining the role of other persons and business entities," the officers said, adding that an FIR was registered at the Crime Branch Police Station on July 12.Police said the case has exposed an alleged network that sourced anti-cancer medicines through counterfeit supplies, hospital diversion and diversion of government stock, and then stored, repackaged and distributed them through intermediaries across several cities.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 20, 2026 16:29 IST