Distribution of Covid-19 drugs: Sonu Sood says he acted as conduit to help needy

Actor Sonu Sood on Tuesday denied any wrongdoing in the distribution of antiCovid19 drugs by him and told the Bombay High Court that he was only helping out those who genuinely needed medicines amid shortagesThe High Court hearing a public interest litigation PIL seeking probe into the distribution of Remdesivir and other drugs by politicians and celebrities like Sood allowed the actor to intervene in the PILThe distribution of medicines as well as oxygen cylinders by politicians and celebrities at a time when even the government was finding it hard to keep up with the demand had raised eyebrowsThe HC had at the previous hearing asked the Maharashtra government to find out if there had been illegal hoarding and unauthorized distribution of drugsAlso Read lsquoProjected themselves as messiahsrsquo HC tells Maha to scrutinise roles of MLA actor in getting Covid19 drugOn Tuesday a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni allowed an application filed by Sood through advocate Milan Desai seeking to become a party to the PILIn his application the actor denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the petitioners were trying to destroy his philanthropic work and defame him Since the onset of the pandemic he had been relentlessly doing philanthropic work Sood saidAfter the second wave hit in April this year people were running from pillar to post to get lifesaving medicines as there was a lack of coordination between the places where the medicines were available and those who needed them the application saidTherefore I decided to be a conduit between the two ie connecting bona fide needy people with the places where the aforesaid drugs were available so that the latter could directly send the requisite drugs to the needy patient Sood saidAdvocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni the states lawyer had told the HC earlier that the government had initiated inquiry to ascertain the roles played by Sood and Congress MLA from Mumbai Zeeshan Siddique in the procurement and supply of medicines in response to SOS appeals on social mediaA case was also registered at the Mazgaon metropolitan court against the BDR Foundation and its trustees for supplying Remdesivir to Siddique though it did not have a requisite license Kumbhakoni had saidSiddique had been merely providing the medicine to those who approached him so no action was taken against him the advocate general had saidAs to Sood Kumbhakoni said the actor procured medicines from pharmacies attached to a private hospital in the city Pharma company Cipla had supplied Remdesivir to these pharmacies and inquiry into the same was going on he had saidOn Friday Kumbhakoni reiterated this information following which the bench said it was open to hearing all concerned parties We will allow your intervention application the HC told Soods lawyerThe court also took a stock of the states preparedness to face a possible third wave of the pandemicThe advocate general told the bench that the production of drugs against black fungus mucormycosis has been increased in the state and nodal officers have been appointed to supervise the distribution of antiCOVID19 drugs to hospitalsThe hearing will continue on WednesdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever