Two held for selling fake Norphene injections in Delhi

Two persons were arrested for supplying spurious injections of Buprenorphine Hydrochloride, a controlled synthetic drug, commonly known as Norphene, police said on Saturday.

Sunil Sharma, 37, was arrested from Mayur Vihar in east Delhi while Naresh Kumar Chhikara, 53, was held in Haryana in August.

Sharma owns a godown near Mayur Vihar Phase-I, where a total of 1,40,000 ampoules of spurious injections of Norphene were recovered.

"Sharma used to get these injections manufactured at a unit being run by Chhikara in Haryana. Chhikara was arrested later, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.

Sharma, the mastermind, hails from Rohtak in Haryana and shifted to Delhi in search of employment.

Sharma used to get these spurious injections manufactured illegally at low cost and sell them, keeping a high profit margin, said the official.

Chhikara, a resident of Rohtak, runs a manufacturing unit -- "Chhikara Pharma" -- of drugs and injections in Haryana.

Police said that Norphene is used in cancer treatment and at de-addiction centres but is widely misused by drug addicts.