The Gujarat government in a preliminary inquiry report has given a "clean chit" to BJP leaders in Surat in connection with alleged hoarding of Remdevisir injections, which were distributed from the BJP office, during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic.
The state government has said that the inquiry is still going on and statements of other involved persons are being recorded.
The Vijay Rupani government submitted the report as an annexure in an affidavit filed in the high court in response to a PIL moved by the leader of opposition and Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani.
The report mentions the recording of statements of Harsh Sanghvi, the BJP MLA from Majura constituency in Surat and national vice-president of BJP Yuva Morcha, and several other local leaders including Kishor Jindal, general secretary, Surat city and Niranjan Janjmera, BJP Surat city president BJP.
However, the report doesn't mention the name of state BJP president C R Paatil who had announced the distribution of Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, from his party's Surat office in April, when the demand had skyrocketed due to the pandemic.
The report says that primary investigation doesn't suggest any violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and any other rules.
Dhanani has accused Paatil and Harsh Sanghvi of violating provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, Pharmacy Act 1948 as well as Drug (Control) Act 1950, for "distributing Remdesivir injections" despite not having any legal rights of doing so under the acts.
The affidavit has been filed by H G Koshia, commissioner of Food and Drugs Control, Administration, Gandhinagar.
Koshia said, "Report (submitted on June 12) is preliminary, prepared solely on the basis of statements recorded so far and the documents produced along therewith and that, the said inquiry is still going on before the Assistant Commissioner, for recording of statement of other persons..."
Meanwhile, Sanghvi has also filed an affidavit in the court defending the distribution of the injections from the party office. Defending himself, he said that the injections were made available "with the sole intention of compassion and humanity" and to save lives.
"In fact, I have not personally distributed or procured the said injections but the injections were made available for humankind and saving human lives. The words "distribution" and "procurement"' and "dispensing" used by the petitioner are false, frivolous and concocted since they are wrong connotations intentionally, deliberately used by him to bring the act of "availability of the injections" look like there is a violation of Section 42 of the Pharmacy Act," Sanghvi stated in the affidavit.
He also said that Dhanani's "petition is more of a publicity interest litigation rather than the public interest litigation since from the very case title of the petition the petitioner himself has portrayed that he is filing this petition not in his individual capacity, but as MLA of Amreli Constituency, Leader of Opposition, Gujarat Legislative Assembly."
On the other hand, state BJP president Paatil's lawyer told the high court that he would be filing the affidavit in a week's time. The court granted time.
When the controversy erupted after Paatil announced the distribution of injections from the party office, chief minister Vijay Rupani had publicly said that he had no idea from where injections were procured and this was a question which only "Paatil would have known."
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