During the investigation, police officers were surprised to compare the survival rates of patients who had taken the fake injections with those who had got the real ones.

“We are not medical experts, but doctors should really look into this,” said an officer. The fake injections contained a simple glucose-salt compound, said police.

During interrogation by the Gujarat crime branch, the accused revealed that they had sold around 1,200 fake injections in MP — 700 in Indore and 500 in Jabalpur.

“Ten patients in Indore, who were injected brought from a Gujarat-based gang, died while more than 100 survived the Covid-19 infection despite being given glucose-salt water. Since their bodies have been cremated, investigating the side effects of the fake drugs is impossible,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

The Centre has told states that Remdesivir may decrease hospitalization time when used in moderate to severe cases, but there is no proven benefit in terms of reduced mortality. The surge in Covid infections, however, has triggered an all-out clamour for Remdesivir.

While chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan wants murder cases to be registered against the racketeers arrested in Indore and Jabalpur, holding them accountable for each death, senior police officials are trying to find ways to link mortalities with the duplicate injections without the dead bodies.

This report has not been edited by The Tatva staff, originally taken from TOI.