DOJ sting singes Hyderabad-based manufacturer of Fentanyl intermediary 

Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited in Hyderabad implicated in illegal Fentanyl precursor shipment to the US.

The fourth floor office of Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited in Hyderabad’s upscale Kavuri Hills thrums with routine work on Thursday afternoon (March 27, 2025). The office floor split by a security desk sees employees of the corporate office go about their tasks. It was from this corporate office of the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm that a consignment of a Fentanyl precursor was allegedly dispatched to New York City in two lots, according to an indictment of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) last week.

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Fentanyl is a habit-forming synthetic opioid that is considered 50-100 times more potent than morphine and has been linked to 52,000 deaths in the U.S. over a 12-month period ending in October 2024. The potency can be gauged from the fact that Indian Central Bureau of Narcotics notifies .1 gm of Fentanyl as commercial quantity and .005 gm as small quantity. 

The DOJ indictment cited how 25 kg of a chemical known as N-BOC-4P or tert-Butyl 4-oxopiperidine-1-carboxylate was shipped from India to New York City after the undercover federal agent of Homeland Security Investigations wired $3,125 or $125 per kg in March 2024. The exercise was repeated in August 2024 as part of the sting operation run by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The shipment invoice with the consignment, which forms part of the indictment document, that is partially redacted, lists the Hyderabad, Kavuri Hills address, with pincode 500033.

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Two of Vasudha Pharma’s top executives, Tanweer Ahmed Mohamed Hussain Parkar (63) who is Chief Global Business Officer and Venkata Naga Madhusudhan Raju Manthena (48), the Marketing Director, have been arrested in New York on March 20, 2025. 

Another executive, Marketing Representative Krishna Vericharla (40) is still at large. The three were indicted earlier by the Department of Justice for manufacturing and distributing a chemical which is a Fentanyl precursor for unlawful import into the United States, and attempting and conspiring to do the same.