A local VHP leader, along with three others, has been booked for allegedly selling fake Remdesivir injections in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh. Sarabjeet Singh Mokha, VHP’s Jabalpur president, is also the director of the City Hospital.
Besides him, those named in the FIR are Devesh Chourasia, a worker at City Hospital, medicine supplier Sapan Jain and an unidentified person.
Police said Chourasia has been arrested, while Jain is already in the custody of the Gujarat police in a separate case related to sale of fake Remdesivir vials. The Gujarat police recently busted a racket in Surat and arrested six persons, including Jain on May 7.
All the four booked on Monday are accused of being involved in selling fake Remdesivir injections in Jabalpur, Additional Superintendent of Police Rohit Kashwani said. The officer added that further investigation was on to trace the persons who supplied fake injections from Indore.
Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug widely used in treatment of COVID-19 and its demand has shot up dramatically during the second wave of the pandemic.
The case was registered against the four under IPC sections 274 (adulteration of drugs), 275 (sale of adulterated drugs), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 420 (cheating), 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act, the police said.
According to a PTI report, the Indore police had said on Sunday that an inter-state gang supplied at least 1,200 spurious Remdesivir injections, which contained glucose water and salt, in Madhya Pradesh in the last one month.
(With PTI inputs)
