Pune: 21 remdesivir vials seized; pharmacist among 3 held

PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Monday arrested three, including a pharmacist attached to a private hospital, and seized 21 vials of remdesivir, used to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients.
“The suspects were attempting to sell the vials in the black-market for prices ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs20,000,” Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner Krishna Prakash said.
These injections were allocated to two private hospitals in Pimpri Chinchwad by the district administration. “I have issued orders to summon the administrative heads of both the hospitals and question them about how the vials were being sold in the black-market,” the commissioner said.
Krishna Prakash said he had issued orders to carry out surprise Nakabandi operations to curb the black-marketing of anti-viral drug remdesivir.
“Around 2.45am, Wakad police constables Dattaprasad Chaudhari and Jitendra Ugale, along with homeguards Nikhil Sapkal and Rohan Gund, noticed two men on two motorcycles. As their movements were suspicious, our men stopped them and frisked them. They found two vials of remdesivir with on their person,” Krishna Prakash said.
He said one them, Krishna Patil (22), is part of the nursing staff at a private hospital, while Nikhil Neharkar (19) is a delivery personnel. “The duo did not have any permission for selling the medicines. During the questioning, they revealed the name of Shashikant Panchal (34), a pharmacist attached to a private hospital. They also told us that Panchal had provided them with the vials for selling them at high prices,” Krishna Prakash said.
A Wakad police team, led by senior inspector Vivek Mugalikar, took Panchal into custody and seized 19 more vials of remdesivir from his car. “Panchal and his brother run pharmacies at both the hospitals in question. The vials had been allotted to these two hospitals,” Mugalikar said.
Krishna Prakash said, “It was an inhuman act by the pharmacist. These injections were meant for the critical Covid patients who are undergoing treatment in these hospitals. Instead of giving it to them, Panchal was selling it in the black-market. We have arrested the trio under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Essentials Commodities Act.”
Mugalikar said all the three suspects have been remanded to the police custody for five days.
“We are probing whether they had priorly sold any vials in the black-market,” Mugalikar said.