Remdesivir black marketing racket busted; 90 injections seized, 5 caught

Vadodara: One of the biggest rackets selling remdesivir injections in black was busted by sleuths of the crime branch who not only arrested five men from the city, but also seized 90 vials of the life saving injection.
Investigating officials suspect that the racket may have many more persons involved in it. “It was an organized racket wherein the accused used to source remdesivir injections and sell them for Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 apiece. The crime branch had received a tip-off on the basis of which we first nabbed an agent who led us to the other four accused,” said Shamsher Singh, city police commissioner.
Based on information that DCP (crime) Jaydeepsinh Jadeja had received about one Rishi Jedh, a resident of Ellora Park, who was to sell some remdesivir injections in Subhanpura area on Wednesday, cops kept vigil and caught Jedh who was carrying 17 vials with the brand name COVIFOR.
Jedh told the police that he had got the injections from a medical store staff at Shroff Foundation Hospital in Kalali, Vikas Patel. Cops asked Jedh to call up Vikas asking for more injections. “We then trapped Patel who was carrying 12 injections with him. He revealed getting 75 injections from Jatin Patel, owner of Jaynam Pharma in Anand. Patel used to sell each injection for Rs13,500,” Jadeja said.
Vikas told cops he sold 25 injections to a friend Pratik Panchal, who was trapped by cops along with his partner Manan Shah from Sama Savli Road. “We also arrested Jatin Patel of Jaynam Pharma who revealed he purchased the vials from Vivek Shah who owns D K Enterprise that sells medical equipment in Vadodara,” Singh added. Cops picked up Shah for questioning.
The gang confessed to selling nearly 300 injections in black in the past two months. Apart from the 90 injections, cops also seized Rs 2.05 lakh in cash besides mobile phones. Earlier, city police had busted another drug racket on April 11 and arrested two men.