In Madhya Pradesh, police on Saturday arrested a local doctor after 10 children died in Chhindwara district from consuming a toxic cough syrup. The arrested doctor, identified as Dr. Praveen Soni, had reportedly prescribed the cough syrup Coldrif, which was later found to contain a highly poisonous chemical.
According to officials, the case has been registered against Dr. Soni and Sresun Pharmaceuticals, the Tamil Nadu-based company that manufactures Coldrif. The police filed the case under Section 27(A) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Sections 105 and 276 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), following a complaint from Ankit Sahlam, the Block Medical Officer of Parasia Community Health Centre.
Preliminary investigations revealed that most of the children who died had been given Coldrif syrup prescribed by Dr. Soni. The laboratory test results, released on Friday, showed that the syrup contained 48.6 percent Diethylene Glycol (DEG) — a toxic industrial solvent that can cause acute kidney failure and death if consumed, even in small amounts. 
The Madhya Pradesh government acted swiftly after the laboratory confirmation. On Saturday, authorities banned the sale and distribution of Coldrif syrup across the state. In an official notification, the State Drug Controller stated that the syrup, manufactured by Sresun Pharmaceuticals in Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu, was found to be “non-standard and defective (NSQ)” in a report from the Tamil Nadu Drug Control Directorate dated October 2.
