Following Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) lodging an FIR against the three people involved in illegal abortion drug racket, FDA officials say that the state regulator will initiate action against the culprits once police investigation is over. The accused are in police custody at South Mumbai's Yellow Gate police station.

Inter-state abortion drug racket with its network spanning across Gujarat and Delhi is the first of its kind case unearthed by the FDA team this year. Drugs worth over Rs.3 lakh have been confiscated and three people have been found contravening the provisions of the law under different sections of Essential Commodities (EC) Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act (D&C Act).

The racket was run by a licensed stockist based in Mumbai. Around 440 strips of non-surgical abortion medication have been confiscated from the Mumbai based dealer and two medical representatives who supplied him the pills.

According to official sources, FDA officials will act as witnesses during the course of police investigations after the charge sheet is filed against the three accused. Probe is going on ever since FDA laid trap on the three accused people engaged in procuring and peddling the pills in Mumbai on a tip off.

According to an FDA official, "Mumbai based stockist has been violating the law of the land by illegally procuring, stocking and selling the drug to unauthorised people. The stockist in question will have to face suspension or cancellation of license for a life time based on the investigations."

An official further elaborated that Rule 64 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 stipulates that a licence in Form 20, 200B, 200F, 200G, 21 or 210B to sell, stock, exhibit or offer for sale or distribute drugs shall not be granted or renewed to any person unless the authority empowered to grant the licence is satisfied that the premises in respect of which the licence is to be granted or renewed are adequate, equipped with proper storage accommodation for preserving the properties of the drugs to which the license applies and are in charge of a person competent in the opinion of the licencing authority to supervise and control the sale, distribution and preservation of drugs.

Preliminary investigation has revealed the presence of a widespread distribution network of contraband drugs with its origins in Delhi. Intelligence reports indicate that private courier and transport companies were being used to ferry these medicines in Mumbai.

An inspector at the FDA received a tip-off from an informant that a Mumbai based firm was at the distribution end of a supply chain in illegal abortion pills. A strip of Gestapro, a pill manufactured by Zuventus Healthcare, with its headquarters in Uttarakhand used to be sold at a high price of Rs.800 for a strip to gullible customers. The maximum sales price of Gestapro, which is sold only against a prescription, is Rs.575.

Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) pills are recommended by physicians only for pregnancies that haven't exceeded 63 days. Medical abortion pills are prescription drugs that are different from emergency contraceptive pills. They are taken between 7 to 9 weeks of pregnancy and cause the embryo to be expelled from the uterus. Chemists can dispense the drug only against a prescription from a doctor who is registered under the MTP Act.