S Gopal Puri
Dharamshala/Shimla: In a shocking turn of events that has brought national embarrassment to Himachal Pradesh, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 22 conducted multiple raids against key officials linked to the state’s drug control machinery. Among the primary targets was Assistant Drug Controller Nishant Sareen, whose reinstatement into a public-facing position in Dharamshala despite serious past allegations has sparked widespread outrage.
The ED raids were allegedly conducted simultaneously at five locations across Dharamshala, Panchkula, Zirakpur, and Baddi, targeting Sareen, his father-in-law Ramesh Kumar Gupta, and Dr. Komal Khanna. Officials seized documents, laptops, phones, luxury items, and property papers, all allegedly linked to a wider network of financial irregularities and illegal gratification from pharmaceutical companies operating in the Baddi-Barotiwala industrial belt.
What has deepened public anger is the apparent political protection under which Sareen continued to hold a sensitive post dealing directly with pharmaceutical clearances and public interface. Despite being previously named in a 2019 bribery case, Sareen was not only brought back into the department but was posted in Dharamshala — a politically high-profile location — allegedly at the behest of influential quarters.
The opposition BJP has sharply criticized the Congress-led state government, accusing it of shielding corrupt officers for vested interests. Senior BJP leader and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Satpal Satti, along with former minister and sitting MLA Bikram Thakur, both raised the matter on the floor of the Assembly in earlier sessions, highlighting the department’s decaying integrity and its alleged nexus with powerful pharmaceutical lobbies. However, the government remained silent and took no corrective action, despite multiple alerts.
“The question is simple: why was an official with a dubious track record, who had once been removed under a cloud of corruption, reinstated and placed in a position of public trust?” said Satpal Satti. “There’s a clear case of political patronage here,” added Bikram Thakur. “When I raised concerns during the Pekhuvela project and later when the tragic death of Chief Engineer Vimal Negi occurred, I was ignored. Today, the same lack of seriousness has exploded into another scandal.”
This controversy has also coincided with disturbing reports of substandard drug production from manufacturing units in Baddi and Nalagarh, with several samples failing quality tests. The drug control department’s compromised functioning has raised serious concerns over public health, regulatory breakdown, and financial malpractice in a sector meant to safeguard lives.
With the ED now tightening its grip on the accused, and more names expected to surface in the coming days, demands for a wider inquiry and CBI intervention are growing louder.
