More than two months after police busted a fake Mounjaro racket in Gurgaon, a city court last week dismissed the application of prime accused Avi Sharma for regular bail. The 32-year-old has been accused of producing fake injections of the blockbuster weight-loss drug worth over Rs 50 lakh at his Gurgaon home.
Rejecting the bail plea, Additional Sessions Judge Yashwinder Paul Singh in an order dated June 20 observed that “the allegations against the petitioner are quite grave” and “his act prima-facie appears to be committing fraud with the general public at large and selling spurious, adulterated and misbranded drugs”.
It was on April 18 that a team — comprising Gurugram Drugs Control Officers Amandeep Chauhan and Mukesh Kumar, along with the local police officers — acted on a tip-off regarding the stock and sale of a spurious product. After the inputs were received, the team intercepted a Swift Dzire vehicle in DLF Phase-IV near Millennium City Centre Station.
The raid led to the recovery of alleged spurious Mounjaro Kwikpen Injections of various strengths ranging from 2.5 mg to 15 mg. The total estimated cost of the seized products, based on the maximum retail price (MRP) on the labels, was Rs 56,15,847. Mounjaro, manufactured by pharma giant Eli Lilly, was launched in India last year.
Mujammil Khan, the passenger in the car who identified himself as a medical representative, allegedly told the the investigators that the recovered products belonged to Avi Sharma.
Sharma was subsequently called to the spot, where he allegedly failed to produce any valid licence to stock, sell, exhibit, or distribute the drug, and admitted sole responsibility for his actions.
According to the prosecution, the labels on the recovered vials claimed they were manufactured by Eli Lilly Italia SpA in Italy and imported/marketed by Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt Ltd.
However, there were visible discrepancies in the label when compared to the original products, and verification with the actual manufacturing company confirmed that the drugs did not belong to them.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Sharma was allegedly manufacturing these spurious products from a residential flat at Pivotal Paradise at Sector-62 of Gurgaon, said officers. A subsequent search of his residential premises led to the recovery of the fabricated drug labels.
During the hearing, the prosecution argued that Sharma was manufacturing another drug under the brand name ‘Tone UP’, falsely claiming on its label that it was manufactured in Japan, without holding any valid drug manufacturing licence.
While seeking regular bail, the counsel for the petitioner argued that Sharma had been in custody since April 19. The defense submitted that Sharma had previously been awarded the ‘Bhartiya Excellence Award for Ayurvedic Innovator of the year’ and contended that his project ‘Tone Up’ was strictly on an experimental level. They claimed the product was never sold in the market or any medicine shop, and argued that the prosecution’s story was flimsy as no private witnesses were joined during the recovery.
Opposing the bail application, Drugs Control Officer Amandeep Chauhan argued that the allegations against the accused are “heinous” and carry a punishment of up to life imprisonment. He underlined that the accused was actively involved in manufacturing and selling spurious, adulterated, and misbranded life-saving drugs, and releasing him could adversely affect the ongoing investigation.
Chauhan had earlier told The Indian Express that Sharma, who worked at his father’s firm until 2016, began the illegal operation in his Gurgaon flat in April, allegedly aiming to scale up earnings to Rs 2 crore a month. He allegedly manufactured counterfeit versions of Mounjaro, used to manage diabetes and weight loss. The drug, produced by pharma giant Eli Lilly, was introduced in India last year.
Chauhan said Sharma used 3D printers to create near-authentic packaging, including cartons, labels and instruction leaflets. He allegedly sourced raw materials such as peptides, cartridges and injection pens from China through Alibaba.com, and used ChatGPT to learn how to prepare the injections.
Sharma has not appealed against the order in the High Court so far.
Additional Sessions Judge observed that the allegations against Avi Sharma are "quite grave" and "his act prima facie appears to be committing fraud with the general public at large and selling of spurious, adulterated and misbranded drugs". 
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