Sale of scheduled drugs through online portal, IndiaMART, curbed: T.N. police

The illegal sale of scheduled drugs through a leading online portal has been curbed after stringent action was taken, the Tamil Nadu police said.

Last April, as part of the drive against narcotics and other banned substances, Kancheepuram police had issued notices to IndiaMART InterMESH Limited, an online portal, and its directors for having facilitated many youth across the State to buy scheduled drugs illegally.

This follows the arrest of at least 10 youth who procured the scheduled drugs through the portal and the seizure of more than 10,000 tablets in Sriperumbudur and Oragadam in Kancheepuram district. They had procured the drugs without prescription from medical shops in other States, and sold them in Tamil Nadu.

The police said IndiaMART was being used by thousands of youths across the country to procure scheduled drugs, which are otherwisenot allowed to be sold without proper medical advice.

Notices were issued under Section 35 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita to the directors to appear before the Kancheepuram police. 

Asra Garg, Inspector-General of Police, North, said, “When their senior representative met us recently, we told them categorically that their portal was being used by gullible youth in Tamil Nadu and other States for the procurement of scheduled drugs, and that something must be done in public interest.”

K. Shanmugam, Superintendent of Police, Kancheepuram District, said the pharmaceutical shops from other States, which were hosted on IndiaMART platform, contacted youth from Tamil Nadu, who searched for the drugs, through WhatsApp/Instagram. They then sold them at prices several times the MRP. They delivered the supplies through courier companies by providing fake addresses to hide the recipients’ identities.

Shreya Gupta, Superintendent of Police, Tirupattur District, who was a part of this investigation, said: “IndiaMART was being misused by some greedy pharma shops in other States, who used it against the youth in Tamil Nadu. A couple of months ago, a youth in north Chennai died after injecting a drug purchased through the platform. 

Mr. Garg said, “IndiaMART understood the issue and sent us an official email, confirming that they have completely banned around 100 such drugs from their platform. No illegal sale of drugs through their portal has been reported in the recent days, which is a welcome step and a milestone in our fight against drugs/narcotics.”