• Source:JND
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Chennai Police arrested pharmaceutical company owner Ranganathan, the key accused in the cough syrup tragedy that claimed the lives of 20 children in Madhya Pradesh, following a dramatic midnight operation. Tamil Nadu’s Health Minister announced that Ranganathan’s company license will be permanently cancelled within a few days.

According to a report from NDTV, the police said that Ranganathan and his wife had been on the run since the tragedy came to the limelight. The pharma company owner was apprehended in Chennai around 1:30 am on Thursday. 

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Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramaniam also vowed to permanently cancel the licence of the pharma company in a couple of days. “It is now temporarily suspended. After further investigation and inspection, the pharmaceutical company's license will be permanently cancelled," he said. 

When Did The First Death From DEG Occur?

According to health expert Dinesh Thakur, who wrote the book ‘The Truth Pill’ along with advocate Prashant Reddy, the first case of DEG poisoning was recorded in Tamil Nadu in 1972. The book also states that the diagnosis of post-medication complications from DEG is very hard to trace in the early stages. 

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Past Cases Of DEG Poisoning:

  • The first case recorded of deaths due to cough syrup contaminated with DEG was in Chennai in 1972, where 15 children lost their lives. 

  • The second case was reported in Mumbai in 1986, where 14 children lost their lives.

  • Two years later in 1988, 11 children died in Bihar due to cough syrup poisoning.

  • The incident resurfaced again a decade later when 33 children died in Gurugram in 1988. 

  • The latest incident of deaths due to cough syrup occurred in Jammu and Kashmir in December 2019, where 11 children died.

Besides India, children in Gambia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Cameroon have also died in 2022 due to the presence of DEG in cough syrups contaminated with DEG.