Delhi: 2 held for black marketing anti-fungal drug

New Delhi, May 24

A 46-year-old man and his driver was arrested for allegedly selling anti-fungal drug amphotericin, used for treatment of mucormycosis, at an exorbitant rate, police said on Monday.

The suspect, Rajnish Shrivastava, whose firm ‘AmbuSmith Inc.’ deals in trading of medical equipments and ambulance modification, brought these injections from Lucknow and sold them in Delhi at a higher price. His driver, Murtaza Khan (36), also helped him in this business, police said.

In a complaint at the Saket police station, two students stated that while they were trying to arrange Amphotericin-B for a patient, they came in contact with Shrivastava, who was selling it at Rs 11,300 per injection, about 36 times the MRP.

The complainants, who are members of a WhatsApp group that help in arranging medicines for patients suffering from Covid and black fungus, informed police that Shrivastava had agreed to deliver 20 injections for Rs 2.26 lakh.

A police team waited near the Max Hospital at Saket and around 2 pm, two persons in a car, called the complainants at Hauz Rani traffic signal near the hospital for delivery of the injections,  Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Thakur said.

They tried to run away, but the team apprehended the two, the DCP said.

Twenty injections were recovered from the car and an investigation is on to ascertain the source of the drug, the officer added. — PTI