Kachiguda pharmacy owner held for selling Remdesivir for Rs 30K

Hyderabad: The sleuths of the commissioner's task force, east zone team, arrested a Kachiguda pharmacy owner on 28 April for black marketing COVID-19 antiviral drug Remdesivir.

B. Srihari (39) runs a pharmacy store called Suma Pharmacy near Kachiguda. With the help of another accused, Vinay, he was supplying and selling Remdesivir illegally.

The rise in COVID-19 cases in the state has created a huge demand for the drug and black marketers are cashing in on the boom. Srihari and Vinay hatched a plan to make easy money by illegally selling Remdesivir vials in the black market at high prices. Vinay started supplying Remdesivir injections to Srihari who in turn sold them for Rs. 30,000 to needy customers.

On Thursday, Srihari was waiting at the bus stand near TX Hospital in Kachiguda to hand over the injections to some customer when he was arrested. The police seized four Remdesivir injections (100 mg) from him. Meanwhile, Vinay is absconding. Srihari and the seized drugs were handed over to the SHO of Kachiguda police station for further action.

On 26 April, the Saroornagar police had arrested three persons, including a staff nurse of Sunrise Hospital, for illegally selling Remdesivir injections at higher rates. The same day, the Malkajgiri police had arrested three men for running a black market operation and illegally selling oxygen cylinders through an NGO.