UDAIPUR: Udaipur police held a decoy operation and arrested two men, including a private hospital doctor and a second-year medical student on Wednesday night for alleged black-marketing of Remdesivir vials.
The accused were arrested from Eklingpura Chouraha while they were trying to sell a vial for Rs 35,000 against an MRP of Rs 899. Police said the men had sold 46 vials in the past three days at exorbitant prices. They told police that they purchased the vials from an employee of the government MB hospital. The accused are being interrogated and police believe they could be a part of a larger network of black marketers across the division.
Additional SP Gopal Swaroop Mewara said the accused were identified as Dr Mohammad Abir Khan, 27, son of Mohd Afzal Khan, resident of Savina and Mohit, 21, son of Shantilal Patidar of Chikhli in Dungarpur. The Special Task Force had been getting tips of people black-marketting the injection and hence an undercover cop called the accused as a bogus customer and said that he was in urgent need for the vial. The doctor demanded Rs 35,000 and refused for any consideration on price claiming that he got the vials for Rs 23,000 each.
When the cop agreed, the doctor called him at Eklingpura Chouraha and as he handed the vial to the plain clothed cop, the police team arrested him. The MBBS student, too, had accompanied the doctor and stood some meters away to guard the deal. During interrogation, the accused told the police that they got the vials from one Chirag Kalal who charged Rs 23,000 per vial. More arrests are likely to follow, cops said.