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Indian police have arrested the owner of Sresan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, the company behind the production of a cough syrup linked to the deaths of at least 17 children in Madhya Pradesh, according to a senior regional police officer who spoke to Reuters on Thursday.
All of the victims, aged below five, died over the past month after consuming a cough medicine found to contain toxic levels of diethylene glycol — nearly 500 times above the permissible limit.
Investigations have traced the deaths to Sresan Pharma’s “Coldrif” syrup, which authorities have now banned in several parts of India following tests that confirmed the chemical’s presence last Thursday.
S. Ranganathan, owner of the Tamil Nadu-based company that manufactured the syrup, was arrested on Wednesday in Chennai. “He will be produced in court,” a senior police officer said.
Chhindhwara Superintendent of Police Ajay Pandey told Reuters that after his court appearance, Ranganathan will be transferred from Tamil Nadu to Chhindhwara in Madhya Pradesh.
Under Indian law, pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to test every batch of raw materials as well as the finished product. Since 2023, cough syrup exports have also been subject to additional testing at government-approved laboratories, following incidents in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon where more than 10 children died after consuming Indian-made syrups.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the recent tragedy exposes a “regulatory gap” in India’s oversight of domestically sold medicines and cautioned that some exports might have taken place through unofficial channels.
Authorities have also warned the public against two other locally produced cough syrups — Respifresh and RELIFE — made by Gujarat-based Shape Pharma and Rednex Pharmaceuticals, respectively. Tests revealed that both contained the same toxic chemical. Shape and Rednex did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
India, often called the “pharmacy of the world,” ranks as the third-largest drug producer globally after the United States and China. The country supplies about 40% of generic medicines used in the U.S. and over 90% of those distributed across many African countries.
