PATNA, May 7: The Bhagalpur police have arrested two persons including a manager of a private hospital for trying to purchase Remdesivir injection in the name of a dead patient.

Puran Jha, ASP of Bhagalpur, confirmed the development. The accused were identified as Rahul Raj, the manager of Pulse hospital and Pintu Thakur, a tout. Another tout named Alam managed to escape during the raid.

The illegal nexus was unearthed after the owner of an authorized dealership of Remdesivir injection, Mukul traders, suspected Pintu Thakur who went there with a medical prescription from Pulse hospital.

“During investigation, it appeared that Pulse hospital applied for Remdesivir injection on the portal of the Bihar health department in the name of a corona positive patient admitted in the hospital. That patient died due to corona on Thursday afternoon around 3.30 p.m. Despite that the manager Rahul Raj sent Pintu Thakur to purchase Remdesivir injection on the medical prescription of a dead patient,” Jha said.

“The owner of Mukul traders found Pintu Thakur’s behaviour suspicious. He informed the Kotwali police station and the drug control department about the incident. Local police swiftly acted on the information and arrested Thakur. During interrogation, Pintu Thakur revealed the name of Rahul Raj and Alam. The police team raided the hospital and arrested Rahul Raj while Alam managed to flee from the spot,” Jha said.

“Purchasing Remdesivir injection in the name of a dead patient is illegal. It was a nexus to purchase the injection and sell it at a higher price,” Jha said.

In another incident, two persons including a doctor were arrested by Patna police on Friday.

The accused were identified as Dr Asfaq Ahmed and his brother-in-law Mohamad Altaf.

Bhaskar Ranjan, the DSP of Patna (Central), raided Rainbow hospital located at SP Verma road under the Gandhi Maidan police station and arrested them. Police recovered two Remdesivir injections from their possession.

“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were selling the Remdesivir injection to the buyers for Rs 50000 after purchasing it for Rs 3400,” Ranjan said.

Asfaq is the director of Rainbow hospital.