Hyd lab technician and 4 others arrested for selling Remdesivir @ Rs. 28K in Warangal

Warangal: The Geesugonda police on 10 May arrested five persons for illegally selling Remdesivir (COVIFOR) injections in the black market and seized 42 doses of the drug used to treat COVID-19 patients.

Among the arrested were Chanda Vijay Kumar (laboratory technician) from Hyderabad, Ch. Rajesh a resident of Oorugonda village in Damera mandal, M. Gopal (medical representative) from Hanamkonda, G. Avinash (laboratory technician) in Warangal, and V. Suresh who runs a medical shop in Hanamkonda.

The police seized 42 vials and Rs. 69,000 cash, a car, a two-wheeler, and five mobile phones from the accused when they were trying to sell the drug to customers at an exorbitant price.

Warangal east zone DCP Venkatalakshmi said that the five men had purchased Remdesivir drug from Hetero Drugs Hyderabad for Rs. 2,800 per vial. They are authorized to sell the same at an MRP of Rs. 3,490 per vial. However, taking advantage of critical patients, they created an artificial scarcity and were selling the drug for Rs. 28,000 per vial.

"Taking advantage of the pandemic, some hospitals are selling Remdesivir injections at high rates which are beyond the reach of the common public," said the DCP, adding that the accused were waiting near the Katamallanna temple to hand over the injections to a person in Gorrekunta village under the Geesugonda police station limits.

Following the instruction of the commissioner of police Taruna Joshi, the Geesugonda police personnel visited the spot. The accused tried to escape when they saw the cops. However, they were arrested.