Spurious plasma racket: 60% saline, 40% expired stock used to make units, say Ahmedabad Rural police

Ahmedabad: The spurious plasma racket unearthed by Ahmedabad Rural police appears to have been built around a carefully calibrated formula: 60% saline water, 40% expired plasma, and just enough adulterated units in circulation to avoid raising suspicion.Police say the accused allegedly mixed about 150ml of saline water with 100ml of expired plasma, turning unusable stock into a profitable product. “The accused earned Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 on every adulterated unit,” a police officer said.The probe has revealed another tactic that allegedly helped the racket remain undetected. According to police, only about 10 out of every 100 plasma units supplied were adulterated.

By keeping the proportion of spurious plasma low, the accused allegedly reduced the likelihood that routine checks would expose the fraud.Police said Dinesh Chaudhary of Banaskantha, considered the mastermind of the operation, sourced expired plasma from Mohan Gaikwad, who operated a blood bank in Maharashtra’s Washim district. The expired plasma was allegedly obtained either free or at nominal rates before being altered and introduced into the supply chain, the officer said.

Police said pharmaceutical companies typically discard unusable plasma as biomedical waste. During questioning, Chaudhary allegedly claimed that some plasma had deteriorated because of breaks in the cold chain during transportation.According to police, he cited the 15- to 18-hour journey between Moraiya, near Sanand, and Washim as the reason for the plasma spoilage. They are now examining whether such explanations were used to justify the movement and disposal of unusable plasma.Police are examining the possible role of two additional blood banks in Maharashtra, including one allegedly linked to a Gaikwad associate in Washim and another facility in Mumbai.Ahmedabad Rural police arrested Chaudhary, Gaikwad, and two drivers on June 22 for allegedly manufacturing spurious plasma using deteriorated plasma and saline water. Police believe the accused exploited their knowledge of blood bank operations, plasma collection systems and transportation networks to run the racket.So far, police have identified at least 114 adulterated plasma units allegedly sold over the past six months at approximately Rs 5,000 per unit.Despite the scale of the suspected fraud, officers said they have not yet received any complaint or found evidence indicating that a patient suffered harm as a result of plasma supplied by the accused.