Karnataka FDA has cancelled 16 drug licences and suspended eight others following an investigation into an alleged fake-medicine racket in which medicines, machinery, packaging material and forged labels worth about ₹5.05 crore were seized.”
Karnataka’s Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FDA) has cancelled the licences of 16 wholesale and retail drug establishments and suspended eight others following an investigation into an alleged Karnataka fake medicine racket involving spurious medicines. The action, announced on September 20, covers 24 licences/entities, mostly in Bengaluru, with one each in Hubballi and Belagavi. It follows an August 18 raid on an alleged unlicensed repacking facility at a farmhouse in Kurubarakeranahalli near Bidadi, where medicines, machinery, packaging material and forged labels valued at about ₹5.05 crore were seized.
The Karnataka fake medicine racket investigation has widened after the state FDA cancelled 16 drug licences and suspended eight others over the alleged distribution of spurious medicines.
The haul included 5,640 vials of one injectable brand worth ₹3.38 crore and 1,531 vials of another valued at ₹52.24 lakh, along with labels bearing forged Pfizer branding whose QR codes and barcodes did not scan.
Among the establishments suspended is a Pfizer carrying-and-forwarding depot in Kempanalinganahalli, Nelamangala taluk. Those facing cancellation include Avesco Healthcare, Patel Medi Trade, Rajarajeshwari Pharma and St. Philomena Hospital Drug Centre, among others named by the department.
The FDA said the operation violated the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 — spurious drugs fall under Section 17B, while their manufacture, sale, or distribution is punishable under Section 27. A police complaint has been registered at the Tavarekere police station.
Karnataka Fake Medicine Racket Investigation Expands
Karnataka Health Minister U.T. Khader said the network was larger than first believed. “The department officials have identified a big-scale fake medicine network or mafia,” Khader told reporters, adding that the case appeared to extend beyond the state’s borders.
Khader said the alleged kingpin was believed to be operating the racket from Dubai and that preliminary findings traced the medicines to manufacturers in Himachal Pradesh and Telangana. The government has since formed a six-member Special Investigation Team, headed by Bengaluru (West) Joint Commissioner of Police C. Vamsi Krishna, to probe the inter-state network.
The state health department is compiling a list of hospitals and pharmacies that received the suspect drugs, and of patients who were administered them over the past two years, officials said. The FDA is separately examining purchase bills, invoices, stock registers and distribution records, and has begun blocking the batch numbers of seized medicines on its portal.
The department has advised the public to buy medicines only from licensed pharmacies, to insist on valid tax invoices, and to report any packaging or QR codes that fail to scan.
Clear Cut Health Desk
New Delhi, UPDATED: September 24, 2026 13:30 IST
Written By: Yatharth Pathak
