6 held for selling 12K fake injections

Tribune News Service
Ropar, June 18

A pharmaceutical trader was arrested today for allegedly dumping fake remdesivir injection vials in the Bhakra canal. He said he sold nearly 12,000 fake injections during the second Covid wave and earned Rs 5 crore.

How case unravelled

• May 3: Pradip, who was supplied fake injections by the accused, held in Panipat
• May 5: Fearing arrest, the accused threw vials into the Bhakra canal near Ropar
• May 6: 3,000 vials, including 621 of remdesivir, 1,456 of cefoperazone and 849 of an unlabelled drug, recovered from the canal

The accused, identified as Mohammad Shahwar, was presented before media at a press conference held by Ropar SSP Akhil Chaudhary here today. Besides Shahwar, who’s a resident of Muzaffarnagar in UP, his five accomplices — Arshad Khan of Baghpat, Mohammad Arshad of Saharanpur, Pradeep Saroha of Kurukshetra, Shah Nazar and Shah Alam of Behlolpur village in Mohali — have been arrested. The police have recovered Rs 2 crore and four cars from their possession.

On May 6, around 3,000 vials, including 621 of remdesivir, 1,456 of cefoperazone and 849 of an unlabelled drug, were found in the Bhakra canal near Salempur and Balsanda villages. The health authorities had then declared the remdesivir vials as fake.

Chaudhary said during the peak of the second Covid wave, remdesivir was in short supply and Shahwar, already in pharmaceutical business, conspired to supply fake injections to his contacts to make a quick buck.

It was found that Pradip, who was supplied fake injections, had been arrested in Panipat on May 3. Fearing they would be nabbed too, the accused threw the vials into the canal near Ropar on May 5. “We held raids to nab Shahwar, but he kept evading arrest,” the SSP said.