Three held for black marketing Remdesivir in Mancherial

The accused were selling the drug at prices ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per vial

Mancherial: A four-member gang allegedly involved in black-marketing of Remdesivir vials was busted by Task Force Team. Three members were arrested while the fourth is still absconding, Mancherial ACP Akhil Mahajan said on Sunday.

Producing the culprits before the media here, he said five vials were also recovered from them. The accused were identified as Puli Santosh, a native of Tiryani in Kumram Bheem Asifabad, Gotte Rajender from Mandamarri and Palle Ramesh, a resident of bellampalli. The fourth gang member is Punnam Ranjith Kumar. While Rajender and Ramesh work in two private hospitals in the town, Santosh and Ranjith are ambulance drivers.

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During interrogation, Rajender and Ramesh admitted they were committing the offence to make quick money. They confessed to selling the drug at prices ranging between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per vial. They revealed that they were procuring the vials from dealers in Hyderabad using forged prescriptions to treat Covid-19 patients in Mancherial.

The duo disclosed that they were selling the drug with the help of the ambulance drivers to the needy and that they were in the racket for the past month, cashing in on the demand for the drug. Ramagundam Task Force headed by Inspector Raj Kumar and Mancherial town Inspector ML Mutti Lingaiah arrested them.

The IPS officer commended inspectors Raj Kumar and Mutti Lingiah, Sampath Kumar, Venkatesh, Rakesh, Srinivas of the task force for nabbing the gang.

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