India, Feb. 17 -- The Madhya Pradesh high court's Jabalpur bench on Tuesday dismissed the bail plea of paediatrician Praveen Soni, who was arrested last October for allegedly continuing to prescribe Coldrif - the cough syrup linked to at least 17 deaths in Madhya Pradesh and four in Rajasthan.

A single bench of Justice Pramod Agrawal said, "The trial court shall proceed with the matter uninfluenced by any observations made by this court and shall decide the case strictly in accordance with law."

The order said, "Despite the conversation between the child specialist Praveen Khapekar and Soni, in which Khapekar informed him that 33 children died in Delhi in 1998 due to DEG-contaminated cough syrup and that a similar reaction might occur t...