A dark chapter in Madhya Pradesh’s healthcare saga deepened with the High Court’s Tuesday dismissal of bail petitions in the Coldrief cough syrup case that orphaned families in Chhindwara. Involved parties—pharmacist, Dr. Praveen Soni (pediatrician), Jyoti Soni, and nephew—saw their pleas crumble before Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal.
Scrutinizing the evidence, the court decried the pharmacist’s swap of safe Nexstro-DS with poisonous Coldrief, untracked by bills and marred by evidence destruction of 66 units.
Endowed with custodial duties for therapeutic precision and public welfare, the pharmacist’s dereliction paired disastrously with the doctor’s off-script syrup endorsements. Such regulatory defiance brewed irreversible harm.
The contaminant—excess diethylene glycol—inflicted kidney shutdowns, felling over 26 children at Parasiya facility in August-October 2025. A statewide prohibition followed on October 4.
Unveiling greed, officials pointed to kickback schemes sustaining the racket. Held since October 13, 2025, chargesheets invoke Draconian sections of justice and drugs codes, with compelling proofs.
Emerging from a scrutiny of the 2025 syrup crisis, this bail rebuff exposes entrenched flaws in production, sales, and oversight. Strictly procedural, it nonetheless catalyzes demands for iron-fisted reforms, vowing retribution for guardians who betrayed the innocent.