A self-proclaimed doctor was arrested here today for allegedly manufacturing and selling spurious, misbranded and substandard Ayurvedic drug, the state unit of the Food and Drug Administration said.
The accused Munir Khan was held in a joint operation by the FDA and the police, for contravening various provision of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, FDA Commissioner Hrashadeep Kamble told PTI.
FDA has charged Khan with contravention of various sections under Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act 1954 for advertising his product called 'Body Revival' claiming to cure various ailments and diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, tumor, epilepsy and making falls and misleading claims, he said.
The FDA had lodged three FIRs against Khan for contravention of several provisions of the IPC and other medicine-related acts.
On receiving a tip-off that Khan was indulging in dispensing spurious drugs, a team of FDA officers raided his premises at Versova, in Andheri West. The team found that Khan was selling his product 'Body Revival' for Rs 15,750 per bottle of 100 ml, Kamble said.
The sample was drawn for test and analysis and the stock worth Rs. 3.3 crore was prohibited as it was suspected to be of "not of standard quality".
It was found that Khan continued to advertise his product on electronic media and claimed to treat and cure ailments, diseases, disorders such as heart disease, diabetes, premature ageing, hypertension etc, Kamble said.
"The sample drawn by FDA official was sent to the Drugs Control Laboratory for analysis. After thorough analysis Government Analyst declared the said drug to be of not of standard quality, spurious and misbranded drug as it did not contain Acorus Calamous (Vekhand) as claimed on the label," the Maharashtra FDA chief said.
Khan was manufacturing the product earlier in Rajasthan, and the license to manufacture Body Revival was cancelled by Licensing Authority, Rajasthan on information passed on by FDA Maharashtra.
Later, he shifted the activity to Himachal Pradesh and "procured license" for the product. He has continued to "exploit and deceive" the patients suffering from chronic diseases and disorders by charging exorbitantly for a formulation of which manufacturing cost would not be more than Rs 100.
Khan is not a qualified doctor to practice in Ayurveda, Homoeopathy or Allopathy, he said.
The accused has had several run-ins with the law and in 2009 was absconding after selling fake cancer drug, the FDA said.
