As part of the drive against narcotics and banned substances, the Kancheepuram District Police have served notice on IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd. and its directors for allowing youth to buy scheduled drugs illegally through their online portal.
The police took the action following the arrest of at least 10 youth who had procured scheduled drugs illegally through the portal and seizure of more than 10,000 tablets at Sriperumbudur and Oragadam in Kancheepuram district recently. A senior police officer said, “Recently, we seized over 10,000 painkiller tablets, such as tapentadol and nitrazepam, from a group of persons operating in Sriperumbudur and Oragadam. This group had procured the scheduled drugs from Delhi and other States through the portal without prescription and sold them in the locality. We have filed two cases in connection with this seizure and the arrest of the peddlers.”
The police said IndiaMART is being used by many youth nationwide to procure scheduled drugs that are not allowed to be sold without proper documentary medical advice.
The officer added that the IndiaMART network was being used to connect youth getting addicted to the scheduled drugs with illegal suppliers of these medicines. Despite being aware of the health hazard, IndiaMART had not done anything so far to address the issue, he said.
“Our preliminary investigation suggests that the portal abetted the youth in illegal procurement of the scheduled drugs. It is the responsibility of the portal to prevent any illegal procurement. So, on credible information, we have initiated action against the portal [and its directors] by serving notice on them and directing them to appear for an inquiry,” said the officer.
The police added that the notice was served under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) on the portal and its directors — Dinesh Chandra Agarwal (CEO and MD), Brijesh Kumar Agrawal, Druv Prakash, Vivek Narayan Gour, Rajesh Sawhney, Pallavi Dinodia Gupta, and Aakash Chaudhry.
The painkiller or psychotropic tablets are crushed and injected for intoxication. Each tablet costs between ₹30 and ₹300, cheaper than the other drugs. Sellers make a profit as the tablets are sold 10 times more than the cost price. Investigations have revealed that these pills are procured in bulk online from Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, or Karnataka and brought to Tamil Nadu by train or courier, police sources said.
These tablets are also exported to Sri Lanka. Over 5 lakh painkiller tablets, which were kept concealed in a car near Rameswaram for being smuggled to Sri Lanka, were seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau last year.
Published – April 15, 2025 12:13 am IST
