Mancherial: Five persons working in various private diagnostic centres and a surgical shop in Mancherial town were arrested by Task Force police on charges of selling Covid-19 test kits at exorbitant rates here on Sunday. As many as 460 kits worth Rs 1.15 lakh were seized from their possession.
Mancherial Assistant Commissioner of Police Akhil Mahajan said the accused were Kamani Srinivas and B Sagar of Healthcare Lab, MD Azeez and MD Nazeem, belonging to Padmavati Diagnostics, and A Prasanth and Gudikandula Rajender from Amaravati Surgicals. The five were taken into custody when they were found selling the kits without obtaining prior permission from competent authority, following a tip off.
On being interrogated, the five confessed to committing the crime to make quick money for quite some time now. They admitted that they were selling the kits to gullible patients at rates between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000. They disclosed that they were trading the kits from medical surgical equipment shops, flouting ICMR norms.
The IPS officer cautioned that stern action would be initiated against those who fleece patients by selling kits at rates higher than fixed by ICMR and indulge in authorized sales of the kits. He stated that certain persons were involved in the offence in Dandepalli, Luxettipet and Jannaram mandals as per information by sources of the department.
Task Force Inspector AK Mahender, Mancherial Inspector ML Muttilingiah and their team members were present.
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