Activist Shreha Dhargalkar alleges steroids, drugs openly sold as health supplements in Mumbai gyms

MUMBAI: Activist Shreha Dhargalkar has accused gyms and gym trainers in Mumbai, particularly those catering to or training Film and Tv actors of openly selling drugs and steroids under the guise of health supplements.

Speaking to a some media persons in Mumbai on Saturday, Dhargalkar who claimed she had conducted a survey of gyms in the western suburbs of Mumbai by sending dummy clients, said that in the past the Mumbai police had conducted raids and arrested trainers and others selling drugs and steroids.

But the malaise still continues unhindered due to the huge demand for get-big-quick drugs by bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts who chose a shortcut to getting bulging muscles and a six pack tummy.

Dhargalkar cites the example of one Subham Bhagat, a gym trainer who was arrested in August this year by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). While Bhagat was found with charas, ganja and MD, he was also selling banned drugs like Adenosine MonoPhosphate (AMP) to bodybuilders in the suburbs.

According to Dhargalkar – who claims she has proof of the illegal sale, alleged that steroids like provironum, testoviron, deflon and other hormone-based drugs are sold at huge margins in gyms in and around Andheri Lokhandwala, Malad, Four Bungalows, Juhu, Bandra and Chembur, without medical supervision or prescription.

Commenting on the recent death of a Tv actor due to a heart attack, Dhargalkar alleged that the misuse of steroids is rampant among body builders in Mumbai.

According to her, growth hormone and IGF-1, drugs like Synthol, Stanozolol are also popular among bodybuilders in Mumbai and are illegally sold without prescription by gym trainers in Mumbai.

Other drugs like Ilium holbedal, Testosterone Cypionate which costs Rs 250 per injection and Crimbtroll which costs Rs 2,300 per bottle are also supplied by gym trainers to their clients, Dhargalkar alleged.

Gym and bodybuilding freaks in Mumbai are randomly injecting themselves with Adenosine MonoPhosphate (AMP), illegally administered to horses to enhance their performance during races. Those who try to quit the use of AMP, slip into depression and anxiety, lose sleep, become aggressive, drop IQ levels and face the danger of human organ failure, says Dhargalkar citing the example of a famous ex-Bigg Boss contestant who passed away last year and who was rumored to be on drugs.

According to a senior police official of the Mumbai police, several steroids and drugs used by bodybuilders do not fall under the Narcotics (NDPS) Act. It comes under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and we cannot book them. It is the FDA which has to act, the senior cop said.