Four arrested for selling fake COVID-19 medicine in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad city police arrested four men for trying to cheat people and sell a potential cure for COVID-19. They have been identified as Bathini Raj Kumar, N. Uday Bhaskar, Satish Reddy, and M. Mahindra.

The men claimed that the medicine was invented by the Bathini brothers, who are famous for their fish medicine. They were also marketing the product on digital platforms when one of the Bathini brothers, Harinath Goud, found out about it and approached the police.

A.R Srinivas, the DCP West Zone, said the accused men have sold the medicine to more than 300 people so far and many more are yet to be delivered. He said they had packed some compound in packs of six grams and were selling them with FSSAI certification numbers. Further, they were collecting money over GPay and delivering the product to the customers directly.

The medicine, Natur COVID Abhaya, is manufactured by a SEEV Nature Products, a fake firm, in Secunderabad and each packet costs Rs. 285. The makers claim that the medicine should be consumed three times a day. The DCP said the medicine has not been tested and has no approvals from any authorities concerned. He appealed to people to not believe in such claims.

Bathini Harinath Goud said that though the surname of one of the accused was Bathini he was not connected to his family. "It was to use the name and fame of the Bathini family and to defame us that the accused resorted to such cheap tricks," he said.