The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday raided the premises linked to Sresan Pharma, the manufacturer of Coldrif cough syrup, and top officials of the Tamil Nadu drugs control office in Chennai in connection with the deaths of at least 22 children in Madhya Pradesh after suspected kidney failure.

The development came on the day the Tamil Nadu government announced the complete revocation of the manufacturing licence of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, the Kanchipuram-based company responsible for producing the adulterated cough syrup, and ordered the company to shut down.

“The drug manufacturing licence of Sresan Pharmaceuticals has been fully cancelled, and the company has been shut down. Orders have also been issued to carry out a detailed inspection of other drug manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu,” the state government said in a statement.

The Coldrif syrup was distributed across multiple states in the country. Recent inspections by the Tamil Nadu drug control department found lethal levels of diethylene glycol, a toxic component, in the syrup. The contamination led to acute renal failure among children in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, resulting in the deaths of 22 kids, mostly under five.

“The searches on Monday were conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the premises of Sreesan Pharma, the manufacturer of the toxic syrup, and at the residences of top officials of the Tamil Nadu food and drug control department,” said an ED official.

The sleuths, he said, also searched properties belonging to U. Karthikeyan, the arrested director in charge of the Tamil Nadu Food and Drug Administration (TNFDA). He was earlier suspended pending an internal inquiry into the alleged negligence and possible corruption in granting manufacturing licences to Sresan Pharma.

“The agency is probing whether there were financial transactions or illegal monetary dealings between the pharmaceutical company and the suspended officials. The probe also focuses on the failure of drug inspectors to carry out mandatory checks at Sreesan’s facilities over the last two years,” he said.

Madhya Pradesh Police registered an FIR against Sresan Pharma, alleging that the company’s adulterated cough syrup directly caused the deaths. G. Ranganathan, the proprietor of the company, was arrested on October 9 and subsequently handed over to the Tamil Nadu authorities for further investigation.

Sources said Sresan Pharmaceuticals had obtained a licence in 2011 and allegedly continued operations for over a decade despite multiple violations of national drug safety rules. Following the deaths in Madhya Pradesh, the Tamil Nadu government suspended two drug inspectors and a deputy director of the FDA, transferring the state’s drug controller.

A probe by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has revealed that despite repeated warnings, “Sresan Pharma continued operations since 2011 without adequate quality checks. The TNFDA confirmed that the cough syrup contained deadly levels of diethylene glycol,” the ED official said.

The ED investigation, sources said, is also aimed at exposing the possible nexus of corruption, negligence and regulatory failure within Tamil Nadu’s drug administration.

“A detailed probe is underway to identify all those involved in the supply chain and regulatory negligence,” the central agency official said.