A 56-year-old retired teacher has been arrested for allegedly selling at inflated prices an injection used for treating COVID-19 patients, Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials said on Friday.
Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Kalyan Crime Branch and FDA officers raided the house of the accused, Neeta Panjawani, at Manish Nagar on Thursday evening. The police said a decoy approached the accused and she demanded ₹60,000 for one vial of Actemra 400mg (tocilizumab injection) by Cipla, though its MRP is ₹40,545.
Senior police inspector Sanjeev John, Kalyan Crime Branch, said, “She did not verify if the customer wanted the injection for any patient. She was also selling the injection without a prescription. We caught her red-handed.” The police are trying to find out how Ms. Panjawani obtained the injections.
The FDA has so far made 15 arrests in four different raids on black marketeers selling life-saving injections used in the treatment of COVID-19, said an officer.
“The FDA received the tip-off and we provided assistance in the raid. We will be handling further investigations,” Mr. John said.
A case has been filed at Ulhasnagar police station and the accused has been booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
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