Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 30 Jul: The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the major accused in the fake medicine case. The accused, Pankaj Sharma, was arrested from Punjab. He is the owner of a medical store and was involved in selling fake branded medicines.
SSP Navneet Singh Bhullar said that the accused had a drug licence and was selling medicines using an ambulance. The STF team was searching for that ambulance. So far, STF has arrested five members of this gang, including the mastermind. The gang used to make exact copies of life-saving medicines from well-known pharmaceutical companies.
These fake medicines were then sold in markets, which could harm people’s health and cause big financial losses to the government. Earlier, on 1 June 2025, the STF arrested a man named Santosh Kumar with large amounts of fake wrappers, labels, and QR codes.
During the investigation, STF found out about other members of the gang. One of the arrested accused, Naveen Bansal, revealed that he used to send these fake medicines to Pankaj Sharma’s store in Panchkula, Haryana. STF team finally arrested Pankaj Sharma from Dhakoli, Zirakpur, Punjab on Tuesday.
During questioning, he told police that he bought fake medicines from Naveen Bansal and sold them in Delhi, Noida, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Haryana. He also sold them in his own stores in Panchkula. He also said that by selling fake medicines, he earned high profits without paying any tax.
STF is now trying to find out who else is part of this gang and where else the fake medicines were being sold. The police have said strict action will continue against all those involved.
