The Mysuru city police, which recently unearthed a racket of fake Remdesivir, an investigational drug used for treatment of severe COVID-19 cases, has arrested one more medical representative on charges of selling the fake medicine.
Last week, a special team of the City Crime Branch (CCB) stumbled upon a large quantity of fake Remdesivir in the house of Girish K., 34, a staff nurse employed in a private hospital in Mysuru. Along with Girish, the police arrested Prashant, 42, an employee in a medical shop, and Manjunath, a medical representative.
The police now managed to arrest Sujay, 34, a medical representative, who was also reportedly part of the racket. Sujay was picked up from Sathgalli bus stand on Sunday and interrogated by the police. Sujay would procure fake Remdesivir injections from Girish and sell them to medical stores and individuals.
The police had constituted a special team of CCB in the wake of growing complaints of black marketing of Remdesivirever since the COVID-19 cases saw a sharp surge in the City.
After arresting Girish and his associates and booking a case under Sections 276, 279, 420 read with 34 of the IPC and Section 27 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 in Nazarbad police station limits, city Police Commissioner Chandragupta had told reporters that Girish, residing in Vidyanagar, collected exhausted bottles of Remdesivir from different hospitals and refilled them with an antibiotic and saline water before selling it to gullible buyers at a high price.
Girish was assisted by Shivappa, security personnel at a private hospital, and Mangala, a house keeper at a COVID Care Centre, in gathering exhausted bottles of Remdesivir. While the repackaging of the bottles with antibiotic and saline water costed no more than ₹100, the fake medicine was sold for more than ₹4,000 a piece, a police official said.
The arrest of Sujay is part of the CCB’s continuing investigation into the fake Remdesivir racket.
Mr. Chandragupta said the police were trying to trace the supply chain of the fake medicine.
The accused, who were active for about three months during the peak of COVID-19 last year and for the last two to three months, claimed to have sold about 800 to 900 bottles so far. Hence, a deeper investigation was necessary to ascertain not only the fate of patients, who had received the fake medicine, but also the supply chain.
Taking an antibiotic that is not prescribed by a medical professional or taking any medicine more than the prescribed quantity can prove to be harmful to the patients, the police said.
