The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the Madhya Pradesh cough syrup tragedy has arrested Jyoti Soni, wife of the doctor accused of prescribing the Coldrif cough syrup linked to the deaths of several children. According to police, Jyoti Soni received a 27% commission to supply the now-banned cough syrup.
At least 24 children in Betul and Chhindwara districts died after consuming contaminated cough syrup in September and October.
A senior police officer said Dr Praveen Soni’s wife “owns the medical store from which the cough syrup was sold to numerous victims”.
“We have got three days’ custody of Jyoti Soni. We argued that she was receiving 27% commission to sell Coldrif cough syrup. Her husband, Dr Praveen Soni, used to receive 10% separate commission to prescribe the cough syrup,” the officer said.
He said police were further probing “how the two are linked closely to Ranganathan, the owner of Sresan Pharmaceuticals — the Tamil Nadu-based company that manufactured the contaminated batch.”
The FIR against Praveen Soni, the directors of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, and a Jabalpur-based wholesaler, was registered on October 4. In the FIR, Parasia block medical officer Dr Ankit Sehlam alleged that several children had died due to the consumption of Coldrif cough syrup containing the toxic adulterant Diethylene Glycol.
The report said several children under five years of age in the Parasia subdivision were treated for common cold, cough, and fever by Dr Soni, who was posted as a paediatrician at the Government Community Health Centre in Parasia.
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After consuming the cough syrup, some children developed difficulty urinating, elevated serum creatinine and urea levels, and kidney problems. They were referred from Parasia to Nagpur for treatment, where they died in September and October.
