Bengaluru, Apr 1 (IANS): City police arrested a man for selling counterfeit thermometers at an exorbitant price, used for thermal screening and seized 70 instruments, an official said on Wednesday.

"We have arrested Keshav under IPC section 420 for selling the fake thermometers at Rs 16,000 each," Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain told IANS.

Keshav was nabbed in Rajajinagar, within the limits of the Subramanyanagar police station.

Jain said Keshav procured the thermometers from Chennai at Rs 2,000 each, purported to have been manufactured in China.

"Because they were imported there is no MRP, people were just buying and preliminary investigation suggested that a few taluka health officers (THOs) also purchased them at 15,000 a piece with the government money," Jain said.

Keshav was selling the fake thermal screeners from a first floor surgical shop to government agencies and any private individual.

"These days everybody wants a thermometer, even you feel like you should have a thermometer to check," he said, explaining how some people are taking advantage of the COVID-19 fear in the masses.

Similarly, the Central Crime Branch police arrested Shivkumar for making and selling fake hand sanitisers at an exorbitant price.

"We have arrested Shivkumar and seized 5,000 fake sanitiser bottles. He was booked under IPC Section 420," Jain said.

Shivkumar was operating from a two-bed room flat at Srirampura.