'Crusader' chemist's plan to expose e-pharmacy boomerangs on him

A chemist’s plan to “expose” an online pharmacy company by purchasing drugs with a fake medical prescription on its app has boomeranged on him. The rival firm, initially hoodwinked into delivering the banned drugs, has now filed a police complaint against him.

Charan Raj (30), a pharmacist working for e-pharmacy PharmEasy, is associated with an obscure nonprofit called Swadesh Seva Sanstha. As part of a case study to “expose” the rampant sale of dangerous medicines, he placed an order for them with a rival firm, TimelyMed, using the prescription of a fake medical practitioner.

TimelyMed, run by e-pharmacy startup Myra Medicines, fell into the trap and delivered him the drugs which included Corex, Schedule H medicines like Moxikind CV 625 mg, Jalray M 50/500 mg, Nurokind 500 mcg, etc. Schedule H drugs must be sold on the prescription of a registered medical practitioner only, according to a senior police officer.

Suspicious order

The TimelyMed staff later found something amiss in the prescription submitted online by Raj. They tracked down the delivery address and confronted him. Raj retorted that he had “exposed” them. TimelyMed was not amused and filed a complaint against him at the jurisdictional Banaswadi police station. Police acted on the complaint and arrested him, dismissing his protests that he was just conducting a “case study”, the officer said.

The nonprofit, however, has backed him and lodged a complaint with the Drugs Control Department, Karnataka, accusing TimelyMed of “clandestinely selling” schedule H and H1 drugs and banned medicines.

“Our NGO placed various orders through their (TimelyMed) app. Myra delivered all orders, which included banned medications like Corex, Schedule H medicines like Moxikind CV 625 mg, Jalray M 50/500 mg and Nurokind 500 mcg among others without valid prescription,” Rahul Kumar Singh, head of the nonprofit, said in a complaint to B T Khanapure, Drugs Controller, Karnataka. Khanapure said the complaint had been forwarded to the officials concerned for investigation.