Delhi police arrests two for selling antibiotic as Remdesivir injection

DEHRADUN: The crime branch of Delhi Police on Friday arrested two persons from Uttarakhand for allegedly selling antibiotic injections of a registered pharmaceutical company as Remdesivir by putting forged labels on the vials.

According to the state police, the two accused were arrested from Haridwar who were making forged labels of a pharmaceutical company based in Kotdwar town of Pauri Garhwal. The Delhi police team visited the pharmaceutical company in Kotdwar to investigate the matter. According to senior superintendent of police, Pauri Garhwal, P Renuka Devi, “A team of Delhi Police had come to Kotdwar on Wednesday to enquire about a pharmaceutical company Nectar Herbs and Drugs in the town.”

“They returned on Friday for an investigation in a case in which their company’s name was used on injections being sold as Remdesivir. As per our knowledge, so far there have no arrests or confiscations from Kotdwar,” said Devi, adding that there was no official communication between Delhi police and Pauri Garhwal police.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer in the state police headquarters privy to the development said, “Delhi police crime branch arrested one Aditya Gautam from Haridwar and another Baiju from Roorkee on Friday.” “From our investigation, it was found that Gautam had designed fake labels of the above-mentioned pharmaceutical company that are put on antibiotic injections. The labels were then printed by Baiju at his printing press in Roorkee,” said the official.

Police said, “The two then put labels of Remdesivir injection named Covipri on the vials of the antibiotic. So far it came out that no fake injections were being manufactured and the antibiotics with Remdesivir labels were sold outside Uttarakhand at ₹25,000 each.”

“Police seized the fake labels and the vilas of the antibiotic from the two accused,” he said.

Director general of police of Uttarakhand Ashok Kumar said, “The action was taken by the Delhi police which was a commendable one considering the pandemic situation. Our special task force has been asked to coordinate to take further action.”