KOLKATA: Ghansyam Sarda, brother of jute baron Govinda Sarda, who has been accused of supplying post-expiry date blood kits to blood banks here, was arrested at the Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International airport on Thursday.

Govinda Sarda, who was arrested in of September last week, is now in judicial custody.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) Gyanwant Singh, Ghansyam Sarda had bought a ticket under a false name and was about to board a Jet Airways flight to New Delhi when he was arrested.

CBI probe sought

He was the managing director of Govind Sarda's Monozyne India Private Limited, a Secunderabad-based company, between April 2005 and July 2006, when the faulty kits were supplied, Mr. Singh said. Nearly 92,000 faulty diagnostic kits were supplied to eight regional blood banks.

The State Government has sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the incident. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had earlier given a clean chit to the State's Health Department, vehemently denying allegations of any involvement or laxity on the department's part in connection with the supply of faulty kits.

"It is on the basis of reports from the department that the police got into action," Mr. Bhattacharjee had said, adding that he was present when health officials and the police interacted on the matter.

With the arrest of Ghansyam Sarda, the number of those apprehended in connection with the case has risen to four.

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