Health Ministry suspends CDSCO official arrested by CBI over ‘corruption’ charge

“As informed by CBI, Dr. Naresh Sharma, Dy. Drug Controller (I), CDSCO (Hq), New Delhi has been trapped and taken in custody by them on 16.08.2019 and legal investigation … has been initiated,” it stated, adding the official has been suspended “with immediate effect”.

According to his profile on a professional networking website, Sharma joined CDSCO in November 2006 after over five years in Dabur Research Foundation. Between 2000 and 2001, he was in a research and development role at Cadila Pharmaceuticals. He has also worked in R&D roles at two other pharma companies — JK Drugs and Pharmaceuticals and Paam Pharma.

The specific details surrounding Sharma’s arrest are unclear.

CBI, in a release on August 16, had also said it arrested another CDSCO official —a Himachal Pradesh drug inspector — and four executives of an Amritsar or New Delhi-based pharma company in a Rs 1 lakh bribery case.

“It was alleged that transaction of bribe money would take place between the accused persons including Drug Inspector, CDSCO, Baddi, Solan (Himachal Pradesh); Managing Director of Amritsar-based private persons and others,” stated the release.

“It was further alleged that the public servant demanded a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh in lieu of closure of file related to the said private firm and favourable action as the samples of dobutamine injection manufactured/ processed by the said firm were collected by CDSCO for testing and the said samples got failed during testing,” the release added.

The CBI said it “caught” the inspector accepting the bribe and that, later on, the firm’s executives were also arrested.