This story is from April 18, 2021

Six held for black marketing remdesivir at hospital pharmacy

Six held for black marketing remdesivir at hospital pharmacy
Police recovered 2.45 lakh in cash
Surat: Crime branch sleuths busted a racket of black marketing of remdesivir injection in Punagam area and recovered 12 vials of the life-saving drug on Saturday. Police also arrested six accused and recovered Rs 2.45 lakh in cash earned through sale of injections in the past few days.
One of the accused is a partner in a hospital in Yogi Chowk and owner of a medical store in the hospital.
He used to sell the injections procured for patients admitted in the hospital. “The accused were selling each injection in Rs 12,000 to the buyer. Police laid a decoy trap and nabbed the accused,” said city police commissioner Ajay Tomar.
He further said that all the hospitals which have unused remdesivir injections should return it to the government so that it can be used for needy patients. “Police will take actions against hospitals if found involved in malpractices,” Tomar added.
Police arrested Vivek Dhameliya, 29, Shailesh Hadiya, 29 and his brother Nitin, 25, Yogesh Kawad, 24, Pradip Katariya, 21, and Kalpesh Makwana 23. The accused were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Essential Commodities Act, Disaster Management Act and Drug and Cosmetics Act.
Police investigation revealed that Dhameliya is a partner of Nitya Hospital and owns a medical store in the hospital. He used to source the injection vials from the hospital which were not used for patients.
While Shailesh and Nitin run a pathology laboratory from where the injections were sold, Makwana used to keep watch at medical stores and identify customers of the injection. He took the customers to the lab of Shailesh. Kawad and Katariya were mediators between Shailesh and Dhameliya.
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