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Rajasthan rejects link between Coldrif cough syrup & child deaths, MP bans products of three companies
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
October 07 , 2025
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Dr T Shubhamangala, Commissioner of the Food Safety and Drug Control (FS&DC) Administration in Rajasthan, has categorically denied that any child fatalities have occurred in the state due to the consumption of the controversial Coldrif cough syrup or any other cough medication.
Talking to Pharmabiz, the commissioner said, the two recent child deaths in Rajasthan, which had been under scrutiny, were medically attributed to meningitis, mucositis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
This statement aims to separate the Rajasthan deaths from the wider national tragedy, which has seen the death toll of children consuming the contaminated Coldrif syrup, suspected to contain the highly toxic industrial solvent, diethylene glycol (DEG), rise to 14 in other regions. Further bolstering the state's position, Dr. Shubhamangala informed Pharmabiz that the Tamil Nadu drug controller confirmed that the Coldrif syrup, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceuticals in Kancheepuram, was not distributed or marketed in Rajasthan. The syrup's supply was confirmed to have been limited to the states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, and Kerala.
Despite this assurance regarding Coldrif, the FS&DC is conducting extensive inspections across manufacturing industries, as well as retail and wholesale pharmacies, to proactively find and seize any syrup that may contain the poisonous DEG solvent. The Commissioner emphasized that the proven fatalities due to the contaminated cough syrup occurred in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, not in Rajasthan. “In Rajasthan the cause of the two child deaths is not due to Coldrif syrup,” Dr. Shubhamangala asserted.
This statement comes as central and state authorities grapple with the increasing number of child deaths linked to the toxic contamination, with the national death toll from the consumption of the contaminated Coldrif syrup currently standing at 14.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Dinesh Kumar Mourya, told Pharmabiz that the department has taken severe legal action by filing an FIR against the distributor and retailers of the Coldrif cough syrup, which is now linked to the death of 14 children in the state. This move initiates criminal proceedings against those responsible for the distribution chain of the contaminated medicine within Madhya Pradesh.
Dr. Mourya further confirmed that the state government has significantly extended its crackdown beyond just the contaminated cough syrup. The government has imposed a complete ban on all products manufactured by three different pharmaceutical companies. This prohibition includes Sresan Pharmaceuticals of Tamil Nadu, the manufacturer of the toxic Coldrif syrup, as well as two other companies, one based in Rajkot and another from Ahmedabad.
Responding to the issue, the anti-counterfeit expert, Dr. Avi Choudhury from Kolkata informed Pharmabiz that India is confronting a fresh wave of public health alarm following the recent spike in childhood deaths attributed to contaminated cough syrup, Coldrif.
He said this disaster is a chilling echo of previous international and domestic tragedies. The same poisonous ingredient, diethylene glycol (DEG), was previously responsible for the deaths of nearly 70 children in The Gambia and 18 children in Uzbekistan around 2022. The cough syrups implicated in both of those global incidents were manufactured in India and found to be laced with DEG. Moreover, India has its own recent history of this crime, as a similar incident in Jammu in 2019 resulted in the deaths of 11 children.
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