New Delhi: Police clarified on Tuesday that the viral video of a man standing in a dizzy condition in the Bhayander area of Maharashtra’s Thane city, which surfaced on April 15, was not under the influence of the so-called “zombie drug”.
They said that the man had taken an overdose of Pregabalin, which is a medicine used to treat nerve pain. After the incident viral the crime detection brach was directed to trace the person and also verify the claims circulating on social media that the man was under the influence of a zombie drug, said Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar police in a release.
Police in #Thane clarified that a viral video showing a disoriented man was not linked to any “zombie drug.” The individual, identified as Sameer Rajendra Rawal, had #overdosed on #Pregabalin a prescription medicine after consuming multiple tablets at once. Authorities traced the… pic.twitter.com/7DAoSfSsku
— News9 (@News9Tweets) April 21, 2026
What police find in the investigation?
The police official revealed that the video was recorded at around 10 pm on April 13, and the person in the clip has been identified as 22-year-old Sameer Rajendra Rawal. Rawal is a labourer who belongs to Achham district in Nepal and currently lives on a footpath just outside Mumbai’s Borivali Railway Station.
The police traced him down on April 17, and during interrogation, he disclosed that last month he came from Nepal in search of work and had been addicted to consuming Pregabalin tablets for the last two years. He said, “I used to purchase a strip of 10 tablets for Rs 100 and consume them for intoxication.”
After coming to Bhayander, he bought the tablets from a medical shop without a prescription in Navghar. He consumed five tablets at once on April 13, and while he was walking in the area, he felt dizzy and wasn’t able to move, which left him standing in one place, said police.
Prescription drug abuse, not ‘Zombie’ narcotics
The official said, “It has been established that the incident occurred due to excessive consumption of Pregabalin, which is a Schedule-H drug used for nerve pain. No substance such as a ‘zombie drug’ was involved.”
A team from the police department, along with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), inspected the medical shop from where he bought the tablets, but the shopkeeper had left the town after the clip went viral.
A police official added that a report has been submitted to the Thane FDA to take necessary action against the medical shopkeeper who is illegally supplying Schedule-H drugs without a valid prescription.