Srinagar, Aug. 21 -- The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed a 14-year-old criminal complaint against pharmaceutical major Albert David Limited, while ordering a separate administrative inquiry into how a key drug sample went missing for nearly eight years during the trial.

Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal passed the order on a petition filed by the company under Section 482 of the CrPC, quashing the 2012 complaint, the cognizance order of February 2020, and a subsequent arrest warrant issued against the firm by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kathua.

The case dates back to 2011, when a Drugs Inspector in Kathua lifted samples of needles manufactured by Albert David and sent them for testing.

A Government A...