Visakhapatnam: Four held for black marketing of Covid drugs

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam city police arrested four persons for black marketing Remdesivir injections, the antiviral drug used to treat coronavirus. Sharing details with the media here on Wednesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (East) Harshitha Chandra said a housekeeping manager N Sarveswara Rao, a housekeeping supervisor I Venkata Rao, staff nurses S Sindhuja and G Divya Krupa from a private hospital were arrested on charge of black marketing of Remdesivir injections at exorbitant prices. The accused stole six injections from the hospital and sold them at a cost of Rs 7,000 each. Based on a complaint, the III town police arrested the accused and recovered an injection and mobile phones from them.

The nurses and housekeeping staff were taken into custody. The ACP appreciated SI J Dharmendra, III Town police station CI K Eswara Rao and other staff for their tremendous effort in cracking the case in less than 24 hours.

It may be recalled that the Vigilance and Enforcement teams conducted a series of raids at various chemist shops and hospitals. The authorities concerned warned that appropriate legal action will be taken against the black marketing of the drugs as some indulge in the offence, taking advantage of the scarcity of the Covid drugs.