BHUBANESWAR: ‘Epeecarm’ or for that matter ‘Cinnamon’ are just names for digestive solutions. What Eastern India Pharmaceutical Laboratory actually manufactured was cheap alcohol with great kick value. A 200 ml bottle of ‘Epeecarm’ was priced at Rs 10, while the 450 ml costs Rs 17. ‘Cinammon’ was available at Rs 8 for 200 ml. Each 5 ml of ‘Epeecarm’ contained Compound Cardamom (2 ml), Aromatic Spirit of Ammonia BP (0.5 ml), Chloroform Spirit (0.6 ml), Beladona Tincture BP (.03 ml), Thymol BP (5 mg) and Alcohol 42 per cent. Dosage for an adult was 1 to 2 teaspoons three times a day whereas the victims, police said, admitted to consuming a full bottle and a half each. While police strongly suspect that the bottles may have been interpolated and is investigating in that line, what has come as a surprise is that neither the Drug Control nor the Excise officials had any clue about it. Or did they have? “If you look at the composition and the pricing, what strikes you instantly is if the firm manufactured the digestive solution for medicinal purpose alone. In fact, it appears that it was purely targeted at alcohol consumers who got the kick at throwaway prices,” said an officer investigating the case. With Aska 40, the country brew, missing from the market after the molasses tanker explosion last month, the digestive solutions came in as a substitute and at great prices. Commissionerate Police teams, investigating the matter, were at their wit’s end to track the product in the market as no clear account was available with the manufacturer. There were false and fabricated medicine stores with no addresses mentioned in the register maintained by the firm.One store was recorded as Laxmipriya Medicine Store in Samanatarpur and another was mentioned as Jagannath Drug Store, Baramunda. During quizzing, manager SN Rath said Maa Tarini Drug Store was in Chandrasekharpur only to change his version later saying it was actually Jagatsinghpur.What was appalling, soon after the death reports started coming in, Excise officials sealed the firm but chose not to arrest them or inform the police. What the Rath family is alleged to have done in the night is call the retailers and ask them to dispose of or destroy the products. It was evident when police tracked down a drug store in Lingaraj Police limits which had bought the digestive. “We found only the carton while the bottles were gone which meant the retailers were instructed overnight,” said a source.When the sale registers were being checked by a team led by Bhubaneswar DCP Nitinjit Singh, the lab officials could not give account of the last batch. It had sold 6,365 bottles with a lab certificate secured on January 27. However, when its lab premises were searched, only about half a dozen bottles were found. In the last batch, at least 2,800 bottles had been despatched.Commissioner of Police BK Sharma said there are chances that the batches were sold in an unauthorised manner in open and that’s where the question of interpolation and contamination comes in.“When the family of Baidhar Bhoi was quizzed, they said one Sania, an employee of Eastern India Pharmaceutical Lab, had delivered the stock but the firm denied having any staff by that name,” said a source. With panchayat polls only a few days away, the ‘cheap liquor’ may have been produced on purpose but something seems to have gone horribly wrong on the way..
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