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Rajasthan police bust Remdesivir black marketing racket
Remdesivir’s supply is currently regulated and Rajasthan government barred chemists from selling it directly earlier this week.
The Jaipur police on Wednesday arrested three persons and detained another three for alleged black marketing of antiviral drug Remdesivir, also used for treating severe Covid-19 symptoms. The initial investigations show that the black marketing chain unearthed in Jaipur could extend to Gurugram in Haryana, said police.
Police claim the accused were caught selling the drug at 15 times higher the original price. The drug has been in short supply in several states amid an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases. Its supply is currently regulated and the Rajasthan government barred chemists from selling it directly earlier this week. Several people have been booked in the past few days across the country for either hoarding or selling the medicine in the black.
“The second wave of Covid is at (its) peak and so is the demand for Remdesivir injection. City police received information about the black marketing. Hence, a decoy operation was put in place under the supervision of additional commissioner of police (additional CP) Ajay Pal Lamba, deputy commission of police (DCP) crime Dignat Anand and the city police commissioner’s special team (CST) team,” said Anand Srivastava, commissioner of police (CP), Jaipur city.
CST members posed as customers looking to buy Remdesivir medical shops in the city.
“One of the medical shops located in Murlipur police station area was ready to deliver Remdesivir injections ...three persons identified as Jaiprakash Verma, Dalveer Singh and Vikas Mittal were arrested, and four (Remdesivir) injections were recovered from their possession,” said Jaipur CP.
A case against the trio was lodged under Section 420 (cheating), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Essential Commodities Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Medical and health department has been informed about the arrests.
“During the investigation it was found that Verma is the owner of the medical store and was selling the (Remdesivir) at ₹15,000 per injection. He (Verma) told police that he purchased these injections from Singh. When Singh was quizzed, he confessed that he bought these injections from Mittal, who further told police that he brought these injections from one Basant Jangid,” said Lamba, additional CP. The price of the drug, manufactured by different labels, ranges between ₹900 and ₹3,000 in Rajasthan.
Jangid, when detained, told police he purchased 725 doses of the injection from two men in Gurugram, identified as Vikram Gurjar and Shankar Mali.
“Mali, Gurjar, and Jangid are been quizzed. We are trying to unearth the entire chain,” said Lamba.
