VISAKHAPATNAM: In yet another joint decoy operation in the city, officials of the Drug Control Administration and Vigilance department have busted a racket selling Tocilizumab and Bevacizumab injections on the black market and arrested two people behind it.
On credible information that the duo -- Dadi Prasanna Kumar and S Ramya Krishna -- were selling one Tocilizumab injection for Rs 3 lakh, a drug inspector and the circle inspector of vigilance department posed as relatives of a COVID-19 patient and approached them to buy the injection.
Prasanna Kumar said they did not have Toclizumab but had a similar drug Bevacizumab and offered it for Rs 75000 per injection.
Drugs Inspector Sunitha, who posed as the daughter of a patient, agreed to buy the injection. After the deal was made, the other accused Ramya Krishna contacted her over phone and asked her to wait at Santhipuram to hand over the injection.
When Prasanna Kumar and Ramya Krishna were handing over the injections to Sunitha, Drugs Inspector Visakhapatnam (sales) P Kalyani and CI (Vigilance and enforcement) Ch Tirupati Rao caught the duo red-handed and seized two injections. The duo was arrested for possession of the injections without licence and violation of 18(c) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
Assistant director of drugs control administration K Rajitha said on Monday that a chargesheet will be filed against Prasanna Kumar, who is working as a medical representative, and Ramya Krishna, who assisted him for illegal sale of injections at exorbitant prices. The MRP of each injection of Bevacizumab is Rs 49,000.