Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 15

The UT police have filed a chargesheet against six accused allegedly involved in illegal dealing of remdesivir injections. The police named 24 witnesses in the chargesheet.

The chargesheet has been filed against Philip Jacob, KP Francis, Susheel Kumar, Gaurav Chawla, Prabhat Tyagi and Abhishek PV.

As per the chargesheet, the accused have been booked under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC, Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and Section 27 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The police had arrested the accused from a Sector 17 hotel on April 17. In the FIR registered at the Sector 17 police station, the police alleged that all accused were dealing in the sale and purchase of remdesivir without any permit or licence. A sample of the vial with an MRP of Rs4,700 on it was also recovered from them.

As per the chargesheet, the police received a tip-off on April 17 that around five persons, who were staying at Hotel Taj, Sector 17, Chandigarh, met some customers in connection with the sale of remdesivir. These persons were not authorised for dealing with the vial as they had no permit or licence in this regard.

After receiving information, a police team, headed by ASI Surjit Singh, reached Hotel Taj and found some persons sitting there. A person was holding a box mentioning remdesivir. They were apprehended.

After interrogation, a raid was conducted on M/s Health Biotech, Nalagarh Road, Baddi, in Himachal Pradesh. A total of 30 boxes containing 100 remdesivir injections in each box were seized. The police said the mobile phones of the accused were sent to the CFSL for further investigation.