RAIPUR, India — An Indian drug company executive allegedly tampered with and destroyed evidence after a dozen women died following sterilization surgeries, an official said Friday.
Ramesh Mahawar, the head of Mahawar Pharmaceuticals, and his son Sumeet are also accused of forgery, Sonmoni Borah, commissioner of Bilaspur district in India’s Chhattisgarh state, told CNN on Friday.
In addition, all sales of their company’s products have been banned until further notice, Borah said.
The two men’s arrests follow a police raid Thursday evening on a Mahawar Pharmaceuticals facility in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh state.
A day earlier, the surgeon involved in more than 80 sterilization operations Saturday at a mobile clinic — after which a dozen women died and scores more were hospitalized — was taken into custody.
Dr. R.K. Gupta was charged with negligence and attempted culpable homicide in the women’s deaths, according to Borah. He remains in custody Friday.
Gupta had defended his actions before his arrest, telling CNN that he and his team had followed all necessary safety procedures. He also said the women died because of drugs they received in their villages after the surgeries.
Mahawar Pharmaceuticals produced the antibiotic, Ciprofloxacin, that the women took after Saturday’s surgeries, Borah said.
The current charge that Ramesh Mahawar and his son face doesn’t implicate either of them directly in the women’s deaths. But authorities — who are waiting on lab results to specify the women’s cause of death — could decide to bring more charges against them later.
The deaths have put a spotlight on India’s decadelong initiative to curb population growth. Voluntary sterilization surgeries at mobile “camps” are part of that program, though some activists said they are too often conducted in unsafe and dangerous conditions.
