Man with drug for every ailment, Munir Khan, arrested

Self-proclaimed scientist Munir Khan, who claimed to have a medicine for every disease including HIV, diabetes, heart ailments, tumors, stress management and reversal of premature aging, was arrested by Mumbai police on Tuesday. Khan was arrested after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials lodged an FIR at Versova police station after making a watertight case against him.

What does FDA say about his miracle medicine?

FDA has declared that the drug, 'Body Revival', being sold by Khan, is spurious. Laboratory tests have confirmed that one of the eight ingredients, claimed by Khan to be present in the medicine, was missing.

Who went to Khan's clinic at Versova?

In a covert operation that lasted over two weeks, FDA and the police clamped down on Khan's clinic. FDA had information that Khan had restarted sale of Body Revival from his Versova-based clinic. Two decoy FDA official, of whom one was a lady, visited Khan's clinic in Patel Nagar at Versova in Andheri (West) on March 18 posing as patients. "We had to pass through a series of security checks before entering Khan's chamber. There was a bevy of musclemen and security persons guarding his office. When we entered his clinic, he asked me about my illness. I said, I suffered from an ailment of the heart. He did not examine me. He simply asked me to collect the medicine from the counter outside," said a decoy FDA official.

What did the FDA officials do?

The officials then purchased a 100 ml bottle of the medicine at a price of Rs15,750. FDA, for the first time since the start of investigations in Khan's case in 2007, subjected the samples of Body Revival to laboratory tests such as Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and High Profile Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC). Through these tests, FDA was able to ascertain that the ingredient Acorus Calamous (Vekhand) was not present in the drug. "After the drug analysis, we have declared that Khan's drug is spurious, not of the standard quality and wrongly branded as it did not contain ingredients as claimed on the label," said Harshadeep Kamble, state FDA commissioner.

What happens to Khan now?

Khan has been booked under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, in addition to Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954, Maharashtra Medical Practitioners Act, 1961 and Indian Penal Code (IPC). He may face imprisonment up to seven years. At least 2,100 bottles of Body Revival worth Rs3.3 crore have been prohibited from sale by the FDA. The bottles will be seized eventually from Khan's clinic, informed FDA officials.

Was Khan arrested earlier too?

Even after being arrested on three accounts in 2008, 2009 and 2014, Khan had managed to seek bail and go scot-free every single time. Khan's advertisements are rampant on television channels after midnight everyday. Khan's website www.healthreactive.com, which propagates his miracle cure, is still active and functional.

The FDA officials said that nearly 30 to 40 unsuspecting patients visited Khan at his clinic every day. Khan earned Rs5-7 lakh per day by selling Body Revival. "The medicine's manufacturing cost is not more than Rs100. Khan sold the same medicine for 150 times more the manufacturing price," said Kamble.

Khan's manufacturing unit in Rajasthan was shut down on information passed on by the FDA. After this, he shifted his manufacturing plant to Solan in Baddi district, Himachal Pradesh. Kamble said, "Maharashtra FDA is writing to authorities in Himachal Pradesh to shut down his plant. Also, FDA is writing to the Union health ministry urging that he should not be given licence to manufacture anywhere in India."