Indian American doctor indicted for drug trafficking

WASHINGTON: An Indian American doctor in the US has been charged with 202 counts of drug trafficking and related violations, and of seeking forfeiture of an amount in excess of USD 500,000.

Indicted by a federal grand jury, Narendra Kumar Agrawal, 59, of Galion in Ohio has been accused of engaging in a scheme to distribute nearly 500,000 tablets of narcotic controlled drugs to various individuals without a legitimate medical purpose.

The drugs distributed by the doctor include Percocet, Vicodin, Lortab, Loricet and Xanax, in violation of federal drug law.

The indictment charges that an amount in excess of USD 500,000 is subject to forfeiture as either the proceeds of the charged criminal violations or as facilitating them.

Agrawal maintained a medical office located in Galion between 2004 and 2008, the FBI said in a statement.

He has also been charged with knowingly and intentionally opening, leasing, renting, using or maintaining a building, room, enclosure, namely 'Rapid Response Medical Center' for the purpose of unlawfully distributing a controlled substance by using this medical office to issue invalid and illegal prescriptions for such drugs.