Gurugram's Drugs Control Office busted a counterfeit Mounjaro (tirzepatide) injections racket on April 18, arresting Avi Sharma and Mujammil Khan after intercepting a cab in DLF Phase-IV and raiding Sharma's flat. Fake injections worth over Rs 71 lakh were seized, with packaging machines recovered. A nationwide alert has been issued, and officials warn of health risks from such fakes.
On April 18, a Health Department team intercepted a Swift Dzire cab driven by Mujammil Khan in DLF Phase-IV, where he claimed to be ferrying stock from Avi Sharma (32). Officers recovered fake Mounjaro injections worth Rs 56 lakh from the cab and Rs 15 lakh more from Sharma's flat in a Sector 62 residential society, leading to both men's arrest and judicial custody.
Sharma, who left his father's firm in 2016 to start Hemped Souls International LLP, began producing counterfeits in his flat this month to scale operations. Raw materials like peptides, cartridges, and pens were sourced from China's Yenli via Alibaba.com, mixed with water, and packaged using 3D printers and machines. He learned techniques from YouTube, Google, and ChatGPT. The fakes were supplied via B2B portal Indiamart and WhatsApp rate cards, though no large-scale sales occurred—six injections sent to Hyderabad were flagged unsafe by the buyer.
Fakes were identified by packaging flaws: mismatched blue/red shades, font issues, typographical errors (blurred pen illustration, thicker red arrow, plain storage text, lower second 'I' in Tirzepatide, misplaced comma/semicolon). Lab tests on peptides are pending.
Drug Control Officer Amandeep Chauhan noted this as one of India's first such rackets for GLP-1 weight-loss/diabetes drugs like Mounjaro (Eli Lilly). A nationwide alert with batch numbers has been issued. Mounjaro, launched in India last year, aids type 2 diabetes and weight loss, but counterfeits pose serious health risks. Officials urge buying only from authentic offline sources.