An Indian national was sentenced to 20 years in jail by a court in Uzbekistan on Monday in connection with the deaths of as many as 68 children who allegedly consumed contaminated cough syrup produced by an Uttar Pradesh-based pharmaceutical company, news agency Reuters reported.

The Uzbekistan court jailed as many as 23 people, including the Indian national, for a period ranging from two to 20 years.

Singh Raghvendra Pratar, an executive director at Quramax Medical, a firm distributing medicines manufactured by India’s Marion Biotech in Uzbekistan, received the longest prison sentence, lasting for a period of 20 years.

The defendants were found guilty of tax evasion, sale of substandard or counterfeit medicines, abuse of office, negligence, forgery, and bribery, the Reuters report stated.