Udaipur : Udaipur police held a decoy operation and arrested two men, including a private hospital doctor and a second-year medical student on Wednesday night for alleged black marketing of remdesivir vials, which is used for treatment of COVID-19 and is in high demand due to scarce supply. The accused were arrested from Eklingpura Chouraha while they were trying to sell a vial for 35 thousand rupees against the MRP of 899 rupees.
Police said the men had sold 46 vials in the past three days at exorbitant prices. They told the police that they purchased the vials from an employee of the government MB hospital. The accused are being interrogated and the police believe they could be a part of a large network of black marketers across the division.
Additional SP Gopal Swaroop Mewara said the accused were identified as Dr Mohammad Abir Khan (27) son of Mohd Afzal Khan, resident of Savina and Mohit (21) son of Shantilal Patidar of Chikhli in Dungarpur. The Special Task Force has been getting tips of people blackmarketting the injection and hence an undercover cop called the accused as a bogus customer and said that he was in urgent need for the vial.
The doctor asked for 35 thousand rupees and refused for any consideration on price claiming that he got the vials for 23thousand rupees each. When the cop agreed, the doctor called him at Eklingpura chouraha and as he handed the vial to the plain clothed cop, the police team arrested him.
The MBBS student too had accompanied the doctor and stood some meters away to guard the deal. During interrogation, the accused told the police that they got the vials from one Chirag Kalal who charged 23 thousand rupees per vial. More arrests are likely to follow, cops said.