NEW YORK (TIP): A 61-year-old Indian physician has been arrested on health care fraud charges and faces life imprisonment for illegally distributing opioid pain medication that resulted in the deaths of two patients in the US. Pawan Kumar Jain of New Mexico was arrested on Friday by the officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI and was produced in federal court.

A federal grand jury returned an 111-count indictment charging Jain with the unlawful dispensing of opioid pain medication and health care fraud charges, Acting US Attorney Damon Martinez said. The indictment charges Jain with 61 counts of unlawfully dispensing controlled substances and 50 counts of health care fraud.

According to the indictment, Jain allegedly committed the offenses between April 2009 and June 2010 when he was a licensed physician with a neurology subspecialty who operated a pain management medical practice. Jain?s medical license was suspended in June 2012 and subsequently revoked in December 2012 by the New Mexico Medical Board. Each of the 61 dispensing charges alleges that Jain unlawfully dispensed prescription painkillers, primarily oxycodone and methadone, to patients outside the usual course of medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.