NSA slapped against 75 in Madhya Pradesh for black-marketing Remdesivir

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government has invoked stringent National Security Act (NSA) against 75 persons for allegedly indulging in illegal sale of Remdesivir medicine in different parts of the state, a senior official said on Thursday.

These 75 persons have already been sent to jails by the district collectors concerned, he said.

"As per the procedure, we have confirmed the NSA against 37 persons for black-marketing Remdesivir. We will also confirm the proposal against 38 others under the same Act by Friday," Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Home, Dr Rajesh Rajora, told PTI.

They were arrested under the NSA as well as the Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1980, he said.

Of the 37 accused against whom the district administration's order was confirmed by the state government, nine each are from Indore and Ujjain, four each from Gwalior, Jabalpur and Shahdol, two each from Bhopal and Dhar and one each from Mandsaur, Chhindwara and Ratlam, the ACS said.

The approval in 30 other cases in Indore and eight cases in Bhopal will be given by Friday, he added.

Earlier, similar action was taken under these two stringent Acts against two persons each in Jabalpur and Ujjain and one each in Sagar and Satna for the black-marketing of oxygen.

All six of them were sent to jails by the district authorities.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed the officials to invoke the NSA against those found black-marketing Remdesivir injections and oxygen, and put them behind bars immediately, he added.