Amid Cough Syrup Deaths, Madhya Pradesh Blames Tamil Nadu, Alleges Negligence

Madhya Pradesh still reeling from the devastating Coldrif cough syrup tragedy which has claimed the lives of 23 children, Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav directly blamed the Tamil Nadu government today for what he described as a failure of regulatory vigilance and timely action. His remarks came amid reports that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, may visit Chhindwara on October 12 to meet the bereaved families. Yadav took a sharp dig at the Congress leader, challenging him to visit Tamil Nadu instead and question ruling ally DMK about its alleged negligence.

"The deaths have happened due to manufacturing defects of the cough syrup, which was being made at the factory in Tamil Nadu. So timely action and sampling should first have been initiated there," Yadav said after visiting the hospitals in Nagpur, where several children from Chhindwara, Betul, and Pandhurna districts are admitted. 

"Congress leaders who are questioning us better go to Tamil Nadu and question their alliance partner's government as to how the license of the factory was renewed," he said.

"How was the drug license issued to the unit, how come it was renewed, how was it allowed to function from a small place? Rahul Gandhi should go to Tamil Nadu and ask these questions to the state government there," Yadav said, reiterating that the root of the tragedy lay in the manufacturing unit's regulatory lapses.

The Chief Minister also defended the Madhya Pradesh government's response to the crisis, stressing that immediate disciplinary action has been taken against negligent officials and those involved in the distribution of the toxic syrup. 

"We have already acted against our drug controller and inspectors for failing to perform random sampling of the syrup. Action has also been initiated against the doctor who prescribed Coldrif cough syrup, which was sold through the medicine store run in his wife's name. Our police have arrested the owner of the drug manufacturing company in Tamil Nadu. We are not going to spare anyone in the matter," Yadav said.

The Chhindwara Superintendent of Police Ajay Pandey confirmed the arrest of Ranganathan Govindan -- the 75-year-old owner of Kancheepuram-based Sresan Pharmaceuticals, the company behind the Coldrif syrup -- from Chennai.

"Ranganathan was running the pharmaceutical unit as a proprietorship entity along with chemical analysts and other team members. As he had diabetes and hypertension, we are getting his thorough medical check-up done in Tamil Nadu, after which he will be produced before a local court and brought to Chhindwara on transit remand," Pandey said.

The 12-member Special Investigation Team formed to probe the case has six of its members currently stationed in Chennai to coordinate the transit. 

Pandey added that the questioning of Ranganathan would reveal from whom he sourced the hazardous chemical in the cough syrup.

"There was a strong possibility of Rangnathan fleeing from the country as his cell-phones were switched off, but our team finally managed to nab him," he added.

The officer also confirmed that postmortem examination of the three children who died recently have been completed, but the reports remain confidential. "We are working on getting more information with the help of the forensic science lab and experts," Pandey said.

According to official sources, 23 children have died after consuming the syrup -- 20 from Chhindwara, one from Pandhurna, and two from Betul. Several others are fighting for their lives at hospitals in Nagpur and Chhindwara.