Cough syrup tragedy: SIT arrests wife of accused Dr Praveen Soni

Chhindwara (MP): The SIT investigating the cough syrup tragedy that claimed the lives of 24 children in Madhya Pradesh has arrested the wife of accused Dr Praveen Soni, an official said on Tuesday.

Chhindwara-based Dr Soni, who allegedly prescribed the contaminated cough syrup 'Coldrif' to most of the ailing kids, was arrested last month for alleged negligence in connection with the child deaths due to kidney failure.

His wife Jyoti Soni, another accused in the case, was arrested from her residence in Parasia town of Chhindwara district on Monday night, Sub Divisional Office of Police and Special Investigation Team (SIT) in-charge Jitendra Jaat said.

She is the proprietor of a medical shop from where the cough syrup was sold to several victims, the official said.

So far, seven persons have been arrested in connection with the cough syrup tragedy, he added.

Following the child deaths, the Tamil Nadu government revoked the licence of the cough syrup manufacturing company, Sresan Pharma.

Those arrested include Sresan Pharma's owner G Ranganathan, medical representative Satish Verma, chemist K Maheshwari, wholesaler Rajesh Soni and medical store pharmacist Sourabh Jain.

As many as 24 children from MP, mostly under the age of 5, died due to suspected kidney failure after they were administered Coldrif cough syrup.

At least three children died after consuming the cough syrup in neighbouring Rajasthan.

The tragedy prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to issue an alert against three "substandard" oral cough syrups identified in India -- Coldrif, Respifresh TR and ReLife.

On October 2, the Tamil Nadu director of drugs control found that Coldrif samples were not of standard quality.

Three days later, Madhya Pradesh also reported that one sample of Coldrif had 48.6 per cent of diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical, far exceeding the 0.1 per cent permissible limit as an impurity.

The MP police subsequently arrested Dr Praveen Soni, a medical practitioner, for alleged negligence. Following the deaths, the syrup was banned in Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, West Bengal, and Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had said the guilty in the case shall not be spared.

The state government also suspended the drug controller and assistant drug controller for negligence in testing random samples of the medicine, and formed the SIT to probe the matter.

The Tamil Nadu government sealed Sresan Pharma's manufacturing unit after the children's deaths came to light.