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Raipur - The company at the centre of a probe into why more than a dozen women died after being sterilised in India has denied that the antibiotic tablets it manufactured were contaminated with a chemical compound commonly found in rat poison.
Preliminary tests of ciprocin tablets made by Mahawar Pharmaceuticals, a small firm based in Chhattisgarh state, were found to contain zinc phosphide, two senior officials in the state said.
Samples have been sent to Kolkata and Delhi to verify that they were contaminated.
The antibiotics were handed out at a mass sterilisation held a week ago at a government-run family planning camp in the state, one of India's poorest. At least 15 women have died, most of whom had attended the camp.
Mahawar Pharmaceuticals managing director Ramesh Mahawar denied any wrongdoing and said in a statement released by the company that information related to the incident had been "exaggerated".
Bought locally
Police arrested Mahawar and his son on Thursday. Mahawar has said both are innocent. He and his son are still in custody and the statement was released by the company on Mahawar's behalf.
The state government has banned the sale and distribution of all medicines from Mahawar Pharmaceuticals. It has seized 200 000 tablets of Ciprocin 500 and more than 4 million other tablets made by the company.
An investigation is under way into why the drugs were bought locally when there was enough stock of the medicine with the state's central procurement agency.
