DM invokes NSA against man who sold remdesivir in black market

Noida: The district administration has invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Rachit Ghai, the alleged black marketer who was arrested with over 100 vials of the remdesivir drug out of which 93 turned out to be spurious.
The decision was taken after the Noida police wrote to the district magistrate recommending that Rachit be booked under the NSA in consonance with the UP CM’s statement that the stringent act be invoked against black marketers involved in such criminal acts during the pandemic.
Sector 20 police said that the accused has been trying to get bail from the local court since his arrest on April 21. Rachit’s bail plea was to be heard before the Surajpur court for the third time on Friday but a day prior to that, he was served a preliminary detention order under the NSA, SHO Munish Chauhan said. TOI on April 22 reported about the recovery of 105 vials of the Remdesivir injection from Rachit, who had been allegedly selling the jab across NCR for anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 40,000 a vial.
It was later found that 93 of the vials were spurious, while some were expired Bangladesh-made Remdesivir jabs. The accused has already been booked under IPC sections 275 (sale of adulterated drugs.), 276 (sale of drug as a different drug or preparation), 420 (cheating) and under the Drug and Cosmetics Act and the Epidemic Act. The imposition of the NSA came after reports from the Noida police and the special prosecutor officer.
DM Suhas LY told TOI that the decision has been taken based on the reports from the local police and the drug department that most of the injections were spurious. If his detention under NSA is approved by the state government in the next 12 days, Rachit will have to present his defence within 12 days.
According to a police officer, the drug department’s report found that while some of the Bangladesh-made Remdesivir jabs had expired and thus could not be tested, the remaining injections having labels of Hetero Healthcare contained water mixed with glucose.