Bribery case: Biocon Biologics senior executive among 5 arrested | India News,The Indian Express
According to the CBI FIR, Eswara Reddy had three files of Biocon Biologics pending with him for clearance and bribes had been allegedly negotiated for clearing all of them. Biocon, a company founded by industrialist Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, has denied the CBI allegations, saying it abides by all the rules.
The CBI on Tuesday arrested five persons, including Biocon Biologics Associate Vice-President L Praveen Kumar, in connection with the bribery case in which S Eswara Reddy, the Joint Drug Controller (JDC) with Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), was caught allegedly accepting Rs 4 lakh in cash on Monday.
Apart from Kumar and Reddy, others arrested include Dinesh Dua, Director of Synergy Network India Pvt Ltd; Guljit Sethi alias Guljit Chaudhary, Director of Bioinnovat Research Services Private Limited, Delhi; and CDSCO Assistant Drug Inspector Animesh Kumar.
According to the CBI FIR, Reddy had three files of Biocon Biologics pending with him for clearance and bribes had been allegedly negotiated for clearing all of them. Biocon, a company founded by industrialist Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, has denied the CBI allegations, saying it abides by all the rules.
The CBI has alleged that Sethi’s company Bioinnovate used to handle regulatory affairs of Biocon along with several pharmaceutical companies and regularly paid bribes to get regulatory clearances. Bioinnovate had business relations with Dua’s company, Synergy Network, and Dua had been asked by Sethi to allegedly bribe Reddy to waive Phase III trials of Biocon’s Insulin Aspart Injection.
“Sethi… has conspired with Shri L. Praveen Kumar, Associate Vice President and Head — National Regulatory Affairs (NRA) and other senior executives of M/s Biocon Biologics Limited, Bangalore to pay a total bribe amount of Rs 9 lakh to Dr S Eswara Reddy for favourably processing the said three files related to M/s Biocon Biologics Limited, Bangalore and also for favourably recommending the file of ‘Insulin Aspart Injection’ to the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) meeting on 18.05.2022,” the CBI FIR said.
Rating: 5