NAVI MUMBAI: A crime branch (unit II) team, in coordination with Thane Food & Drug Administration (FDA) officials, laid a trap and arrested a 20-year-old youth for illegally selling two vials of Covishield vaccines and 15 syringes, under Rajiv Gandhi bridge in Nerul on Wednesday.
Acting on a complaint by FDA inspector Ajay Mahule (50), they arrested Kishore Khet, a Kamothe resident, and booked him under Section 420 of IPC along with Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
Senior inspector (crime branch-unit II) Giridhar Gore said, “We summoned Mahule to verify if the youth was actually selling the vaccine. We laid a trap by sending a decoy customer for buying two vials from Khet. The decoy was given a bundle of fake Rs60,000 notes, including four genuine Rs500 notes.”
Gore said that at 3.45pm, the decoy met Khet under the bridge. Khet sold two vials and 15 syringes and accepted the cash from him. As the decoy signalled them, PSI Vaibhav Ronage detained Khet.
Khet claimed he purchased the vials from a nurse. “He is not cooperating with the investigation, as he claimed he was unaware of her whereabouts. Hence, we have secured his custody,” Gore said.
