In two cases, the north division police arrested five people, one of whom is a manager of a private bank, for allegedly selling Remdesivir in black. “Four were arrested by the Mahalakshmi Layout police at a bus stop near a private hospital on Friday evening,” said Dharmendra Kumar Meena, DCP (North).
The accused have been identified as Shivakumar, 32, a bank manager and resident of R.R. Nagar; Darshan, 29, a medical representative, his friend Girish, 30, a lab technician; and Nagesh, 43, a vegetable vendor.
Inquiries revealed that Nagesh had purchased Remdesivir when his father contracted COVID-19. However, his father died, following which Nagesh decided to sell the remaining vials. The police seized three vials from them.
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In another operation, the Srirampura police caught a delivery boy of a pharma company with two vials of the antiviral at Bandireddy Circle. According to the police, he had made a fake prescription in his brother’s name to obtain the drug.
Meanwhile, officials with the Drugs Control Department caught the owner of a private hospital, a manager, and a pharmacist at Chickpet for selling Remdesivir illegally. Acting on a tip-off, Harish V.R., Drug Inspector of the State Intelligence Unit of the department, posing as a customer visited the pharmacy and purchased three vials for ₹5,750 each. The maximum selling price of each vial is ₹899 fixed by the government, said Mr. Harish said in his complaint.
The police have arrested D.R. Anupama, the owner of the hospital and pharmacy, and her associates, Doddamma Goudappagol, the pharmacist, and Mohan Kumar, manager of the hospital.
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