Jabalpur/Indore( Madhya Pradesh): With a probe by Indore Police revealing that an inter-state gang had supplied at least 1,200 fake Remdesivir injections containing glucose water and salt in Madhya Pradesh, police on Monday registered an FIR against a director of a private hospital and three others for allegedly selling the vials in Jabalpur.
Of the four, one accused has been arrested, while another is in the custody of the Gujarat police in a separate case related to the sale of fake Remdesivir vials, police said.
The FIR (first information report) has named City Hospital director Sarabjeet Singh Mokha and three others, all accused of being involved in selling fake Remdesivir injections in Jabalpur, Additional Superintendent of Police Rohit Kashwani said.
Devesh Chourasia, a worker at City Hospital, who has been arrested, medicine supplier Sapan Jain and an unidentified person also figure in the FIR filed at the Omti Police station, he said.
Of these, medicine suppliers Jain was arrested by the Gujarat police on May 7, Kashwani said.
READ: Gujarat police smash fake Remdesivir network
Chourasia, during interrogation, revealed that fake injections sold in Jabalpur were procured from Indore, he said.
The fake Remdesivir selling racket in Jabalpur came to light last week.
Further investigation was on to trace the persons who supplied fake injections from Indore, the police officer said.
Indore Police had said that of the 1,200 fake injections, 200 were sent to Dewas district while 500 others were delivered to one Sapan Jain in Jabalpur.
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, Jabalpur police said.
Meanwhile, Indore Police on Monday slapped the culpable homicide charge against four persons arrested earlier for allegedly selling spurious Remdesivir injections, an officer said.
READ: Covid black market thrives as pandemic rages
These injections were being manufactured in neighbouring Gujarat.
"We have added section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR registered against four people arrested for selling fake remdesivir injections containing salt and glucose," Indore's Inspector General of Police (IGP) Harinarayanchari Mishra said.
He said the National Security Act (NSA) had already been invoked against the four.
When asked about reports that some patients died in Indore after they were administered spurious injections, Mishra said, "We have had some initial clues and a detailed investigation is underway".
Mishra said illegal buildings of the four accused are being identified which will be demolished.
The Indore police 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.
READ: Pharma companies not supplying mandated Remdesivir quota to Maha: Tope
These injections were sold as genuine Remdesivir at exorbitant rates, a probe has revealed.
The Gujarat police recently busted this racket in Surat and arrested six persons, including Jain, an Indore police official had said.
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