Cuttack, Sept. 16: The vigilance department today arrested three persons, including a physician couple, for their alleged role in promoting the sale of poor quality cancer drugs to city patients.

The doctor couple - Surendranath Senapati and his wife Diptirani Samanta - worked as senior radiologist and oncologist, respectively, at the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre.

Vigilance director R.P. Sharma said the couple had been arrested on the charges of prescribing cancer drugs of a particular non-registered pharmaceutical company based in Himachal Pradesh.

Sources said Senapati and his wife had teamed up with Sudhanshu Das, the proprietor of JBSL Pharmaceuticals, and forced patients to purchase the company's drug. Das has also been arrested.

"The cancer drugs prescribed by the couple were priced higher, lesser known and of doubtful origin, while similar drugs of reputable companies with proven efficacy were available at cheaper rates. We are conducting a probe to ascertain whether the particular brand of medicine was counterfeit or not," police sources said.

Senapati and Samanta have been booked under Section 13 (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of the Indian Penal CodeFollowing complaints by patients on August 10, the vigilance raided the couple's clinic and office and the company's medicine stores at Mangalabag. It had seized several documents, including prescriptions, related to the procurement of JSBL medicines.

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