Telangana: Pharmacy owner arrested in drug overdose case

Illegal use of Tapentadol Hydrochloride tablets, an analgesic drug that is habit-forming, led to the death of a teenage boy, say TGANB officials

Hyderabad: The Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGANB) along with the Balapur police made arrests in connection with the drug overdose case resulting in the death of a teenage boy and hospitalisation of two other youths.

Officials said the illegal use of Scheduled H1 drug – Tapentadol Hydrochloride tablets – led to the death and illness.

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During the course of investigation, Sahil, the drug peddler, was nabbed and he confessed to buying the tablets without prescription from a medical store at Shamshabad, run by one Jagannathan Praveen at a higher rate.

Based on Sahil’s confession, Praveen was arrested. The CCTV footage examination at the medical store and online transactions of Sahil and Praveen, batch numbers of the medicines had matched.

Officials said Tapentadol was an analgesic drug that is habit-forming and causes dependency. It was included under Schedule H1 in the year 2021 (effective from November 1, 2021) in view of its abuse potential.

However, it has not been included under the NDPS Act as on date and its inclusion in the list of Psychotropic Substances was under process. India has imposed National-Level Control by categorising it under Schedule H1, and the USA has classified it under Schedule II of the US Controlled Substances Act, in view of its abuse potential.