Three people were arrested after liquor bottles, expired medicines and regulatory lapses were found during a Bihar drug control department raid at Cellulas Pharma Private Limited in Kankarbagh, Patna, with the premises sealed pending investigation.
The action followed a tip-off and was carried out by a team led by the state drug controller with assistance from Kankarbagh police. According to an official press release cited in the report, the establishment could not produce medicine purchase and sale records or other mandatory documents during the inspection.
Inspectors also found that the prescribed signboard was missing and that the storage arrangements were unsatisfactory. The findings place the focus not only on the alleged presence of liquor bottles but also on whether the pharmaceutical premises were operating within the conditions attached to its drug licence.
The firm’s licence covered only one room measuring 11.15 square metres. However, medicines were reportedly stored across four rooms in the flat. The department sealed the flat’s main entrance while the investigation continues.
Two expired medicines were seized under Form 16, and samples from seven medicines were collected for laboratory testing. The results will determine whether the sampled products met the required quality standards, although no laboratory findings had been reported at the time of publication.
The department has directed the firm to submit the required purchase, sale and other records within five days. Officials said further action would be initiated after the documents and laboratory reports are examined.
The case illustrates how drug regulation extends beyond the inspection of individual medicine packages. Licensing conditions, storage space, traceability records and mandatory disclosures are part of the system used by regulators to track pharmaceutical products and identify responsibility across the supply chain. In this instance, the reported mismatch between the licensed area and the rooms used for storage is among the compliance issues under examination.
The arrests were made after the inspection and the three people were sent to jail, according to the report. The supplied account does not identify the arrested individuals or specify the charges filed against them. It also does not state whether the liquor bottles were linked to the pharmaceutical business or how they came to be present at the premises.
The Bihar drug control department said inspections would continue to monitor drug quality and regulatory compliance. The next steps in this case will depend on the records submitted by the firm, the laboratory reports on the collected samples and the findings of the ongoing investigation.
