Telangana Police have filed 128 cases and arrested 258 people for black marketing of Covid-19 medicines and oxygen cylinders during the second wave of the pandemic so far,

This was revealed on Thursday by Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao, who is heading the task force for procurement of medicines and vaccines for Covid-19.

“Telangana Police have been doing their best in this pandemic to restrict black marketing of medicines & oxygen cylinders,” he said in a series of tweets.

“In the 2nd wave, 128 cases have been filed & 258 people have been arrested Anyone who has information on black marketeers can dial 100 or tweet at @TelanganaDGP.”

The minister, who has been helping many Covid infected by responding to their requests on Twitter for medicines and oxygen, appealed to those seeking DRDO’s 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2DG) not to let anyone fool them with duplicate products.

“It has not yet been launched & don’t let anyone fool you with duplicate products,” KTR, as he is popularly known, tweeted, tagging an announcement from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.

The pharma major announced that 2DG has not yet been launched in the market. Price per sachet has not yet been announced.

The oral anti-viral drug has been developed by INMAS, a lab of the DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.

The Hyderabad-based firm also stated that 2DG can be administered only upon prescription to hospitalised moderate to severe Covid-19 patients as adjunct (add on) therapy along with existing standard of care.