Gujarat FDCA seizes over 24,000 pregnancy termination kits, 8 held

These accused have been charged under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, while one of them has been arrested.

The Food and Drugs Control Administration in Gujarat seized 24,363 pregnancy termination kits worth over Rs 1.5 crore along with narcotic and psychotropic drugs that were being sold illegally, leading to eight people being arrested, officials said on Sunday. These people have been charged under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, while one of the accused has been arrested by Gujarat police under the NDPS Act after drugs were found in his possession, DCA Commissioner Hemant Koshia said. He said such abortion kits could be sold only on the prescription of gynecologists as per the provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. An FDCA release said Ahmedabad-based Pintu Shah, one of the accused, was procuring pregnancy termination kits illegally from accused Vinod Maheshwari and Lokesh Maheshwari, owners of a distributing unit in Banaskantha's Deesa, and selling them online without prescription. Shah had sold around 800 such kits through an online platform in the last one-and-half years.