Arrested in Panama, Akkela and was extradited to the United States.
Ramesh Buchirajam Akkela, who is based Mumbai, has been sentenced by the Pittsburgh district court to 33 months in prison after he was found guilty of smuggling misbranded prescription drugs from India for distribution in the United States.
The indictment, which dates back to 2015, charged Akkela, also known as Ramesh Bhai, with 10 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to misbrand and smuggle drugs, conspiracy to import Schedule IV controlled substances and money laundering.
Akkela, the sole defendant in the case, was arrested from Panama and was later extradited to the United States.
Indian American Assistant United States Attorney Shardul S. Desai prosecuted the case on behalf of the US government.
Earlier Akkela’s brother in India had sought the help of the Ministry of External Affairs for the release of his brother, who was detained in Panama in 2015. In a tweet, he wrote: “I am Ramesh’s Brother. I am seeking help from Hon. MEA, GoI to secure release of Indian National Mr Ramesh Akkela illegally detained in Panama since 15.7.2015.”
In a wordpress blog, Sarika Ramesh Akkela, the wife of Akkela, wrote that her husband had all the necessary licenses to export the drugs as per the Indian law, performed all his business activities as per the Indian law without violating any of its provisions, and his firms were duly checked and verified by all the authorities in India involved in the process of export.
In addition to this, she wrote that the “USA authorities want the extradition of Ramesh Akkela on various counts, yet none of the count hold the ground since he was lawfully performing the business in India as per law of the land. Law and reasoning both state that. Ramesh Akkela, being national and resident of India has to perform his business activities as per Indian Law, which he has done.”
Even though his brother has tweeted with picture that the representation that the family sent to the Ministry of External Affairs accepted, there seems to be no information on whether the ministry took up the issue with the authorities in Panama.