HC grants bail to man accused of illegal sale of Remdesivir

Read Order: Susheel Kumar v. State of U.T. Chandigarh 

Vivek Gupta

Chandigarh, July 6, 2021: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has granted bail to a person arrested in connection with the illegal sale of Remdesivir injection in Chandigarh, saying the trial in the case would take time to conclude and no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner behind bars.

The petitioner Susheel Kumar sought bail after his arrest in April under Sections 420 and 120-B IPC, Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and Section 27 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 in connection with illegal sale of Remdesivir injection, claiming that he was falsely implicated in the case. 

He said he has a registered pharmaceutical company Seatrack International Tradex Pvt. Ltd. which had a business dealing with M/s Rescuers Life Sciences Ltd. The officials of the latter company proposed him that a sister concern of their company M/s Health Biotech Private Limited was an authorized manufacturer of ‘Remdesivir’.

Thereafter, the petitioner went to the registered office of M/s Health Biotech Private Limited at Sector 34 Chandigarh, to make necessary discussions. Later he was also invited for further discussions on April 18, 2021 in Chandigarh, along with a draft agreement between the parties.

The perusal of draft agreement would reflect that the use and sale of Remdesivir injections would be after taking necessary approval from the competent authority and the responsibility to obtain the said licence for the sale in domestic market was of M/s Health Biotech Private Limited, the petitioner claimed.

The State counsel representing Chandigarh, however, opposed the bail. He said the petitioner along with the co-accused held a meeting with some customers in connection with the sale of Remdesivir injections without having any licence or permit.

The recovery of a request letter April 13, 2021 from the petitioner clearly establishes that the petitioner and co-accused had every act of connivance and the alleged sudden meeting of the petitioner with the other co-accused could not be without any prior meeting of minds, the prosecution said.

It alleged that the entire conduct of the proceedings clearly points out that the petitioner along with other co-accused had been involved in the crime by preparing the mode and modus well in advance with the ulterior goal in mind.

Justice Harnaresh Singh Gill stated that since the challan stands presented in this case, nothing is to be recovered from the petitioner.

“He has been in custody since 22.04.2021. Trial of the case would take time to conclude. Therefore, no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petitioner behind the bars. In view of the above, without commenting anything on the merits, lest it should prejudice the case of either side, the present petition is allowed and the petitioner is ordered to be released on bail on his furnishing bail and surety bonds to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court/Duty Magistrate,” Justice Gill ruled.