Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to book those found selling fake platelets for dengue patients under the Gangster Act.
The decision comes days after a patient died in Prayagraj after he was injected ‘mosambi’ juice instead of platelets by a private hospital.
The hospital has been sealed and ten persons have been arrested in this connection on Sunday.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shailesh Kumar Pandey said those arrested committed the crime in an organised way. He said action against them will be taken under the Gangster Act.
“Their call details are being scanned and action will also be taken against those whose names will surface in the fake platelets racket,” he added.
All those sent to jail after being produced before the magistrate, were identified as Raghvendra Patel, Sunil Pandey, Sarfaraz, Dilip Shukla, Pradeep Patel, Yogeshwar Singh, Praveen Patel, Vikas Kumar, Abhishek and Dilip Patel.
Police claimed that Raghvendra, Sarfaraz, Sunil and Dilip Shukla, who were allegedly the kingpin of the racket, worked in a private laboratory and would take plasma from blood banks after payment of fee and sell them to persons in need after packing them in platelet pouches.
“They were aware that it is hard to differentiate between plasma and platelets,” the police said.
The other six gang members, mostly students who lived on rent while preparing for competitive examinations, would get Rs 500 for each delivery of plasma and would sell platelets to the needy.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that many more were involved in the racket.
“One of the accused Ajay would procure plasma with help of one Pradeep Maurya, a hospital staff. Both are absconding. Ajay’s arrest will reveal if staff at blood banks were involved in the racket,” police said.
Police believe that gangs were active outside blood banks, including at SRN and Beli hospital. “Platelet pouches seized from the accused carried the stamp of Beli hospital,” police said.
Meanwhile, the manager of Global hospital, doctors and staff are still at large.
Investigations revealed that they had fled even before the deceased contractor Pradeep Pandey’s wife Vaishnavi, got a case registered against them at Dhumanganj police station.
Police are waiting for the forensic report of platelet samples transfused in Pradeep’s body. “Those arrested so far had not supplied the platelets at Global hospital. Those behind it are yet to be identified,” SSP Prayagraj said.
–IANS