LAHORE, Jan 24: A judicial magistrate on Tuesday remanded three owners of as many pharmaceutical companies into physical custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for interrogation about alleged bogus medicines that caused the death of patients of the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).

The agency sought 10-day remand but the magistrate allowed only three-day remand of Tahir Azam, Chaudhry Nadir and Muhammad Wasim.

The prosecution counsel said that at least 65 people died while hundreds of others got affected after using medicines supplied by these companies. The counsel said the medicines supplied by the companies were substandard and manufacturing and expiry dates were not mentioned on wrappers.

The defence counsel said the federal government took action against his clients in haste and only to gain political mileage. He said the federal government jumped into a provincial matter unnecessarily and without having any evidence against the companies.

The counsel alleged the patients died due to negligence on part of doctors, but the whole responsibility was being shifted to pharmaceutical companies. Magistrate Irfan Basra directed the FIA to produce the suspects in court on Jan 27.

The accused were booked under Drug Act, 1976, and were arrested on Monday.