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The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the cough syrup tragedy in Madhya Pradesh has arrested Jyoti Soni, the wife of accused doctor Praveen Soni. The incident revolves around the cough syrup Coldrif, which is linked to the deaths of 24 children due to suspected kidney failure. Jyoti was arrested from their home in Parasia town, Chhindwara district, on Monday night. Dr. Soni, who was arrested last month, is accused of prescribing the contaminated cough syrup to many of the affected children. The SIT has now arrested a total of seven people in connection with this case. Those arrested include G Ranganathan, owner of Sresan Pharma (the manufacturer of Coldrif), medical representative Satish Verma, chemist K Maheshwari, wholesaler Rajesh Soni, and medical store pharmacist Sourabh Jain. The tragedy prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue an alert against three substandard oral cough syrups identified in India: Coldrif, Respifresh TR, and ReLife. The Tamil Nadu government has also canceled the license of Sresan Pharma and sealed its manufacturing facility after discovering that Coldrif samples were not of standard quality. Madhya Pradesh officials found one sample contained 48.6% diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical far exceeding the 0.1% permissible limit as an impurity. Jyoti is the proprietor of the medical shop from where the cough syrup was sold to several victims, Sub Divisional Office of Police and Special Investigation Team (SIT) in-charge Jitendra Jaat said. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has vowed that the guilty in the case shall not be spared. The state government has also suspended the drug controller and assistant drug controller for negligence in testing random medicine samples and formed an SIT for a detailed probe.
