Ten held for Remdesivir black marketing in Bengaluru,37 Remdesivir vials seized.

Pramesh S Jain. Yogesh K Porwar

The North Division police of Subramanyanagar police and JC Nagar police in a major crackdown arrested six persons since Wednesday including a lecturer of a nursing college and staff of many private hospitals while they were selling Remdesivir injections vials in Black.

The accused has been identified as,Janardan,Medical Representative,JP Nagar,Deepak,Medical Representative, nagawara,Lokesh,Receptionist Hospital, Yelahanka,Dinesh M,27,lecturer in little flower college of nursing and his associate Shankar,42,a lab technician from Gayathri diagnostic centre situated in 6th block Nagarabhavi,and Johny H,34,HR manager of St.Theresa hospital.

Senior officer,told media persons,a major drive against Blackmarketing of Remdesivir vials was carried out in our North Division under the leadership of DCP,North,Dharmendra Kumar Meena,team headed by Subramanyanagar police and JC Nagar police have cracked down on Black Marketing of Remdesivir vials.

Based on tip off recieved by Subramanyanagar police inspector, Sanjeev Gowda HB,that two men selling Remdesivir injection in public.

Acting on tip-off,a team of police from Subramanyanagar on wednesday raided a place near private hospital junction in Rajajinagar 1st block and caught Dinesh M,27, who works as lecturer in little flower college of nursing and his associate Shankar,42,a lab technician from Gayathri diagnostic centre situated in 6th block Nagarabhavi and recovered 12 remdesivir injection vials,a bike two mobile phones cash Rs 7,500 from them.

During investigation the accused told the police that he was sourcing the vials from the lab technician of the hospital identified as Anand and sharing the profits.

The duo confessed that they have sourced the injections from their contacts identified as Chethan,a lab technician from Ashraya hospital  and Pawan,boys hostel mess incharge of a little flower college of nursing.Chethan and Pawan are currently on the run.

Following the leads,the police also arrested Johny H,34,HR manager of St.Theresa hospital and recovered three Remdesivir vials,a car,two mobile phones and cash Rs 5,000 from him.

Similarly on Thursday, the JC Nagar police in separate incidents arrested three men selling Remdesivir in black to the public .

Based on the information the JC Nagar police raided a place near a private hospital on JC Nagar main road and arrested,Janardhan NS,34, a medical representative,Deepak,34,delivery boy of a medical store and Lokesh,28,a receptionist at a private hospital .

The police recovered 10 vials of Remdesivir, three bikes and seven mobile phones and cash Rs 16,000 has been seized from them.

We have taken the accused into custody for further investigations and efforts are to secure the arrest of others who are involved in the black marketing and presently on the run,Dharmendra Kumar Meena,DCP, North Division,said .

Meanwhile the CCB officials also arrested 4 accused in separate incidents and recovered 12 Remdesivir injections from them on Thursday.

DG-IGP Praveen Sood,tweeted telling,90 persons have been arrested and 38 cases booked for black marketing Remdesivir injection or packing fake remdesivir.Our drive will continue against those trying to profiteer in this tough situation.Well done.Keep the pressure on such unscrupulous activities he said.

The Karnataka police have been on their toes to curb black marketing of the drug since Mid-April with several such cases reported from Bengaluru, Mysuru and other cities.

Commissioner of police,Kamal Pant said in his tweets,@BlrCityPolice’s crackdown on black-marketing rackets continues unabated!.

@DCPNorthBCP has arrested 6 persons involved in black-marketing of #Remdesivir antiviral drug. Each vial was being sold at 8X times than the govt fixed rates. Further investigation is underway.

Anyone involved in these rackets will not be spared. The public is requested to share the info about any such attempt.Confidentiality will be maintained he said by tweeting.

Meanwhile,Bengaluru DCP,North,Dharmendera Kumar Meena,expressed confidence that the force would find the source of diversion of the drug soon.We will reach the source of diversion of this drug and take action against whoever is involved.

People are requested to reach out to the police to give any information they have on the same. We will act swiftly while maintaining confidentiality, he said.

A case has been registered under various sections of the Drugs Control Act and Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating),against the accused in Subramanyanagar and JC Nagar police station and further investigation is on.

Finally,DG&IGP,Praveen Sood,has appreciated Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant,Addl CP West,Soumendhu Mukherjee,Joint CP Crime, Sandeep Patil,DCP North,Dharmendra Kumar Meena,DCP Crime-1, KP Ravikumar,ACP,Malleswaram Sub-Division,KS Venkatesh Naidu,ACP,JC Nagar Sub-Division,Smt.Reena Suvarna,PIs,as,Sanjeev Gowda HB,D R Nagaraj,PSIs,as,Latha N,Vinod J,and other crime staff who has done a tremendous and meticulous investigation led them to nab 6 people and successfully seized 25 Remdesivir vials anti-viral drug from them and a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.