New Delhi, July 23 -- Himachal Pradesh's drug regulator has uncovered a fake pharmaceutical company that used fake manufacturing licenses and quality certificates to defraud buyers of advance payments, according to state drug controller Dr Manish Kapoor.

The suspect, Ajay Kumar, operated through a false entity, Dr. Trustmed, and did not have a real manufacturing facility, investigators said. Instead, it used fabricated drug manufacturing licences, quality compliance certificates, and labels to solicit orders and advance payments from buyers. Digital devices recovered from the site contained falsified approvals with fake seals of state government authorities.

The matter was already under police scrutiny in neighbouring Haryana, where a F...