The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration department on Tuesday evening raided the clinic of noted diet therapist Anjali Mukherjee and seized some medicines.
The action followed a complaint by former Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner K Nalinakshan who had been undergoing a weight loss programme at Mukherjee's outlet in Colaba in south Mumbai, FDA sources said. At present, Nalinakshan is undergoing treatment at Bombay Hospital.
"We have sent out a team to Bombay Hospital to check the medicine, which the IAS official was taking," FDA Joint Commissioner in charge of Greater Mumbai H D Salunke said on Wednesday.
Mukherjee operates a total of nine outlets, six in Maharashtra and three in Delhi, under the brand name Health Total. The FDA has raided the head office in Andheri and visited the clinics in Colaba, Ghatkopar, Bandra, Malad and Thane.
"We have sealed the stock as we suspect some of these medicine could be spurious drugs," Food and Drugs Commissioner Uttam Kobragade said.
The raid took place on Tuesday between 5 and 12 pm. "We have booked them under the Drug and Cosmetic Act. Further action would be decided upon after the test report on the seized medicines," he said.
The test report is expected in the next 15 days.
Mukherjee is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition. After working for 13 years, she set up her own company, Health Total, in 1997. She writes for several publications and has also helped train participants at beauty pageants.
Health Total's Marketing Manager Sidharth Sethi told rediff.com: "We have relevant permission from civic authorities and have followed all the rules and regulations. We have a qualified team of ayurvedic doctors in all our clinics. We prescribe only ayurvedic medicines, which we do not manufacture but source from others. The samples are with the FDA and we are cooperating with them."
He said that the company's slimming programme involves three steps:
1. Preparing a food plan
2. Ayurvedic medicines after examination of body
3. A daily 30-minute walk
