India, Oct. 6 -- The police in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday arrested a doctor and filed a case against a Tamil Nadu-based pharmaceutical firm after multiple child deaths were linked to a toxic cough syrup, officials said. The action came amid reports of more fatalities and fresh lab tests confirming dangerously high levels of industrial chemicals in the medicine.

Dr Praveen Soni, a paediatrician posted at the Civil Hospital in Parasia who also ran a private practice, was arrested late on Saturday for allegedly continuing to prescribe Coldrif - the cough syrup linked to at least 17 deaths in Madhya Pradesh and four in Rajasthan, officials said.

"Despite the death of a child on September 4, he continued prescribing the dangerous cough syrup t...