ED raids Sresan Pharmaceuticals units as Coldrif cough syrup tragedy probe deepens

CHENNAI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) searches are underway on Monday at locations linked to Sresan Pharmaceuticals in Chennai, the company behind the Coldrif cough syrup that allegedly caused the deaths of 23 children in Madhya Pradesh. The crackdown follows the recent arrest of the firm’s owner, G Ranganathan, in Chennai. On October 10, a Parasia court remanded Ranganathan in 10-day police custody. As part of the investigation, the Madhya Pradesh SIT probing the tragedy took the 75-year-old owner to the company’s factory in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, for an on-site inspection on Sunday. The factory, already sealed by Tamil Nadu’s drug control department, is now subject to a joint forensic and regulatory probe. Investigators are trying to determine how the banned industrial-grade chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) entered the syrup — whether through intentional adulteration, manufacturing errors, or lapses in quality control.