The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Bengaluru, has conducted search and seizure operations at five premises linked to persons and entities allegedly involved in a counterfeit-medicines racket, as part of a money-laundering investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the agency said in an official statement on Monday, according to IANS.
Source: IANS via hi INDiA
The searches were carried out under Section 17 of the PMLA in connection with FIR No. 0266/2026, dated August 18, 2026, registered at Tavarekere Police Station in Bengaluru South, Karnataka, the ED said.
According to the ED, the case originated from a joint raid by the Drug Controlling Authority and police on August 18 at a residential property in CK Tandya village, where the accused were allegedly found storing medicines and pharmaceutical drugs without valid licences, permits or authorisation and replacing labels on the stored medicines. These are allegations in an ongoing investigation, not findings of a court.
The offences registered under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Section 63 of the Copyright Act, 1957, are scheduled offences under the PMLA. The ED said it registered Enforcement Case Information Report ECIR/BGZO/45/2026 and began a money-laundering investigation.
The investigation has allegedly revealed that R. Prashanth arranged a farmhouse near Bidadi for the manufacture, repackaging and relabelling of medicines without the mandatory drug licence or permit, the ED said. Cheap bulk pharmaceutical formulations sourced from manufacturing centres in various states were allegedly repackaged into new vials and fraudulently relabelled as expensive Pfizer antibiotics, including Zavicefta and Emblaveo, with generic contents carrying the Pfizer brand name, according to the agency.
The counterfeit medicines were allegedly distributed through DM Pharmaceuticals and supplied to Krupa Healthcare, which allegedly supplied them on to other pharmaceutical entities and hospitals along with genuine medicines, apparently to avoid detection, the ED said.
During the searches, the ED froze bank accounts belonging to Veeresh Kumar containing approximately Rs 9 lakh, and seized digital devices, records and documents it described as incriminating. Further investigation is underway, the agency said.
The Bengaluru racket first came to light with the August 18 raid near Bidadi, after which Karnataka authorities and a Special Investigation Team pursued the supply chain across several states, earlier ANI and state reporting showed — the background against which the ED has now moved on the money-laundering angle.