Thursday 09/October/2025 – 03:14 PM
Indian police arrested the owner of Srisan Pharma, which manufactures Coldrive cough syrup, after at least 17 children died in the central state of Madhya Pradesh as a result of taking the medicine, which was found to contain a toxic substance in quantities hundreds of times the permissible limit.
Indian police arrest pharmaceutical company owner after 17 children died due to toxic cough syrup
According to statements by a senior security official to Reuters, S. was arrested. Ranganathan, the owner of the company based in the state of Tamil Nadu, in Chennai on Wednesday, and will later be transferred to the city of Chhindwara in the state of Madhya Pradesh to continue investigations before the judiciary.
Preliminary investigations revealed that children under the age of five years died last month after consuming Coldriv syrup, which tests proved contained the toxic substance diethylene glycol in proportions that exceed the safe limit by about 500 times. The drug’s circulation has been banned in several Indian regions after laboratory results were confirmed.
According to Indian law, pharmaceutical companies are obligated to conduct strict tests on raw materials and finished products before putting them on the market. Since 2023, the government has imposed an additional layer of laboratory tests on medicines intended for export, after similar incidents caused the deaths of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon as a result of consuming Indian cough syrup.
The World Health Organization warned that the recent incident reveals gaps in India’s pharmaceutical regulatory system, noting that some export operations may take place through unofficial methods.
At the same time, the authorities asked citizens to avoid two other types of homemade cough syrup, after tests showed that they contained the same toxic substance. India is the third largest pharmaceutical producer in the world, and supplies about 40% of the generic drugs used in the United States and more than 90% of the needs of many African countries.
