Mumbai cops grill pharma director over 'excess' Remdesivir stock; BJP fumes
Mumbai, Apr 18: Mumbai police questioned a pharma company director over alleged excess stock of the Remdesivir drug and allowed him to leave after he produced necessary documents, a police official said on Sunday.
He had stocked at least 60,000 vials. The state and central governments had allowed him to sell the stock, originally meant for export, in the domestic market due to scarcity of the drug used to treat coronavirus patients, the police official said.
The opposition BJP in Maharashtra objected to the pharma executive's grilling by Mumbai police, saying the Shiv Sena-led government in the state was playing politics amid the pandemic.
Four days ago we had requested Bruck Pharma to supply us Remdesivir but they couldn't until permission was given. I spoke to Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and we got FDA's permission, former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said.
The BJP leader claimed that a Maharashtra minister's officer on special duty called the pharma executive and asked him how he could provide Remdesivir on the appeal of opposition parties.
The pharma executive was picked up from his house on Saturday night by 10 policemen, Fadnavis said, describing the action as beyond his imagination.
The Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly said the state government was harassing the Daman-based pharma as BJP leaders approached him for the supply of the antiviral medication to the state.
We (BJP leaders) had contacted Bruck Pharma to supply the stock to Maharashtra as the state is facing a shortage of Remdesivir vials. We even informed the state FDA minister about it and approached the Union government seeking necessary permissions."
Some Maharashtra BJP leaders went to Daman recently to meet Bruck Pharma officials, requesting them to sell their exportable stock in Maharashtra, Fadnavis said.
"They were told by the company that if the Centre and state government approve, they will sell their entire stock to Maharashtra," Fadnavis said.
A senior Mumbai police official said, "A director of a pharma company, which supplies Remdesivir, was questioned by the police in connection with the stock of the vials."
"Based on specific information, police held the pharma company director at Vile Parle, he said.
After export was banned, he had stocked up at least 60,000 vials of the drug. The state and central government has allowed him to sell it in the (domestic) market, he said.
"As we found he did not violate any laws, we did not take any legal action against him. He was questioned about the stock, following which he produced necessary documents," the official said.
The political slugfest started on Saturday morning when Maharashtra minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik alleged the Centre was pressurising some Remdesivir producers to not sell their stock in Maharashtra.
Joining state BJP leaders, two Central ministers hit back at the Maharashtra government, calling these allegations "a lie" and termed them an attempt to politicise the pandemic.
Fadnavis said, "Malik and some ministers have nothing to do with the troubles of people suffering from coronavirus pandemic. They are more interested in indulging in politics.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Allahabad HC sets aside maintenance order in favour of earning wife, says she didn't tell truth
Prayagraj (PTI): The Allahabad High Court has set aside a lower court order mandating a man to pay maintenance to his estranged wife, observing that she earns her living and did not reveal the true salary in her affidavit.
Justice Madan Pal Singh also allowed a criminal revision petition filed by the man, Ankit Saha.
"A perusal of the impugned judgment indicates that in the affidavit filed before the trial court, the opposite party herself admitted that she is a post-graduate and a web designer by qualification. She is working as a senior sales coordinator in a company and getting a salary of Rs 34,000 per month," the court said in the December 3 order.
"But in her cross-examination, she has admitted that she was earning Rs 36,000 per month. Such an amount for a wife who has no other liability cannot be said to be meagre; whereas the man has the responsibility of maintaining his aged parents and other social obligations," it observed.
The high court observed that the woman was not entitled to get any maintenance from her husband "as she is an earning lady and able to maintain herself".
The man's counsel argued in court that the estranged wife did not reveal the whole truth in the affidavit.
"She claimed herself to be an illiterate and unemployed woman. When the document filed by the man was shown to her before the trial court, she admitted her income during cross-examination. Thus, it is clear that she did not come before the trial court with clean hands," the counsel submitted.
The court, in its order, said, "Cases of those litigants who have no regard for the truth and those who indulge in suppressing material facts need to be thrown out of the court."
It impugned the lower court's February 17 judgment and order, passed by the principal judge of a family court in Gautam Buddh Nagar and allowed the criminal revision petition filed by the man.
