'Never Indulged In Hoarding' : Actor Sonu Sood Intervenes In Bombay High Court Case On COVID Drugs Distribution

Sood has sought to intervene, alleging that the petitioner is trying to "destroy" his philanthropic work, accusing the petitioner of trying to ridicule and defame him.

"...By "twisting" and misrepresenting the true states of affairs, the petitioner has persuaded the court to form an opinion to the effect that he (Sood) has indulged in illegal activities of hoarding & / or illegal stocking of the aforesaid medicines," Sood claimed in his plea.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni will take up the matter for hearing today.

During the last hearing, the Bombay High Court asked the Maharashtra Government to "seriously examine" the role of MLA Zeeshan Siddique and actor Sonu Sood regarding Remdesivir distribution, noting that it seemed like a case of a parallel unauthorized agency.

The court's remarks were in response to the state's submission that the inquiry against Sonu Sood Foundation was still underway, however, the drugs seem to have come from a store inside Lifeline Medicare Hospital in Goregaon, manufactured by Cipla.

The inquiries are based on an application filed by petitioner Nilesh Navlakha through advocates Rajesh Inamdar and Pankaj Kandhari.

Inamdar pointed out how patients approached Bollywood celebrities and politicians through Twitter when they failed to get Remdesivir through lawful official channels.

He annexed several tweets from Sood and Siddique to show Remdesivir vials were distributed within hours of such pleas. There are several other instances, he added.

"It is submitted that people's representatives and celebrities should ensure that people don't have to come to them and ensure that the provision essential medicines' is assured in the public health facilities provided by the State, it is expected of them to in fact aid and guide such persons to procure the medicines from proper channels and mechanism as set by the State and assist the State in fulfilling its obligations and not make people dependent on them for any gains be it political or personal," Navlakha's plea said.

Sood's application

In his plea, Sood states that he has been helping people since the beginning of the pandemic and took initiatives to help doctors, health workers, and migrant workers by supplying free meals.

Sood claimed that following the onslaught of the Covid-19 second wave people began contacting him for help with drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab. "Empathizing with the plights of such critically ill patients and their relatives, who were making desperate but futile attempts to procure required life saving drugs, he decided to help people," the plea said.

The application asserted that the actor never "indulged in storing, hoarding, dealing, distributing and/or supplying any drugs, including Remdesivir or Tocilizumab in any manner whatsoever".

He claimed that the main problem, according to him, was a lack of coordination between the places having the aforesaid drugs and needy patients, and he has merely played the role of a conduit.

Narrating the procedure he would use to help the patient, Sood said he would first ask for their Aadhaar Card, doctor's prescription and covid report. Then he would get the information verified, and once he was satisfied that the need was genuine, "the applicant through his various channels would try and find out the availability of the said medicine and its locations."

Sood said that he would contact District Magistrates, Member of Parliament, Chief Medical Officers of the Area, as may be required, and request them to help the patient for the availability of the medicine towards the end.

He would simultaneously contact hospitals and their pharmacies and help needy patients when required, he claimed.

Sood has accused the petitioner of not putting the "slightest effort" to find out the "truth," and on basis of publication in social media proceeded to make "false, baseless, reckless defamatory allegations on the Applicant (him) to the effect that the Applicant(he) is somehow or the other involved in hoarding of the aforesaid requisite medicines."

He claims that the petitioner has not only sought to initiate criminal proceedings against the foundation but has sought to "destroy" his philanthropic work and efforts made by him to help the poor and needy persons and thereby sought to ridicule and defame him.

Moreover, by "twisting" and misrepresenting the true states of affairs, the petitioner has "persuaded" the court to form an opinion to the effect that Sood has indulged in illegal activities of hoarding & / or illegal stocking of the aforesaid medicines.

"The Applicant states that this Hon'ble Court was persuaded to pass the aforesaid order on the basis of misrepresentations, and it is therefore in the abundant interest of justice and fair play that this Hon'ble Court be made aware about the true facts and circumstances and the true state of affairs so that the aforesaid Application be judiciously decided by this Hon'ble Court," he said.