The Garhwa police on Friday morning busted two minigun factories in the Ketar and Bhawnathpur police station area of the district, where illegal gun-making was being done, and arrested six persons on the charge of being engaged in illegal gun-making business.
Seventeen country made pistols, one made in China pistol, one 315 bolt rifle, three semi-made native revolvers, one air gun, 105 live cartridges , two smart phones and Rs 1,25,000 cash has been retrieved.
While addressing a press conference, SP Khotre Srikant Suresh Rao said that he received information about the gun making racket in the Bhawnathpur police station area. A task force was immediately constituted under the leadership of the Garhwa SDPO Brahman Tuti.
Besides Garhwa thana in-charge Laxamikant, other thana in-charges and district police personnel were also included in the task force.
A raid was conducted at the house of an arms dealer Pappu Chaudhary in Nawada village, where a large number of illegal firearms, cartridges, money related to illegal arms sales were recovered. On the tip off of Pappu, raids were conducted at two places, Batokala village and Makari village under Bhawnathpur police station area early on Friday morning.
The SP said that the three persons arrested on the charge of illegal gun making have been identified as Rajkumar Vishwakarma, Narendra Vishwakarma and Ramesh Vishwakarma, all residents of Batokala village under Kettar police station area. Two others, including Shiva Vishwakarma and Ranjan Jaiswal were arrested along with illegal weapons.
The SP revealed that the clandestinely made weapons were supplied to the criminals of three states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
SP added that the cops, who were involved in the grand success against the illegal arms supply net, would be rewarded.
Covid saviour Remdesivir crisis in Bokaro
MLA, Bokaro, Biranchi Narayan and other political leaders on Friday raised their voices demanding anti-viral drug Remdesivir for the dedicated Covid Hospital of Bokaro. The district is facing a huge crisis of antiviral drug Remdesivir, which is said to be the only current effective medication available for Covid-19.
Remdesivir is a very costly medicine that is not sold in the open market. The company as per government instruction only provides it to institutions.
Narayan came to know about the drug crisis after Bokaro General Hospital (BGH) wrote a letter to the district health department asking to provide Remdesivir urgently witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases here.
For critical patients Remdesivir is proven as a life-saving drug. Ever since BGH has been declared as a dedicated Covid Hospital, it has not received antiviral drugs from the state government. Till now more than 80 Covid-19 positive patients were cured here.
Narayan wrote a letter to state health secretary, Nitin Madan Kulkarni requesting him to provide Remdesivir to hospitals here on an urgent basis. The MLA said to The Telegraph Online, “There are two serious patients in BGH, who were administered Remdesivir. They are recovering fast. BGH has arranged two files of Remdesivir from its own sources. Now it has no Remdesivir for other patients."
MLA Biranchi Narayan's letter to the health department Telegraph Picture
Senior Congress leader Sweta Singh also requested state health minister Banna Gupta to provide Remdesivir to BGH as soon as possible.
“I called state minister Banna Gupta and apprised him of the situation arising without anti-viral drug especially Remdesivir in Bokaro. If any Covid positive patient becomes critical, then doctors here become helpless in saving his life in absence of Remdesivir. Health minister told me that he is arranging it soon,” she said.
Civil surgeon Dr A K Pathak said that efforts are being made to obtain Remdesivir from the state government.
