Under-scanner 22 de-addiction centres: Months after Vigilance Bureau registered FIR, Punjab health department to register separate FIRs for ‘theft’ at these centres

The letter dated October 28, 2025, stated that incidents of ‘theft’ at some centres came to light during the inspection by the District-Level Committees.

VB had registered FIR No. 12 dated December 31, 2024, against Bansal under Sections 7 and 7-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

The Vigilance Bureau alleged that Bansal was running 22 de-addiction centres in Punjab, where tablets Addnok-N 0.4 and Addnok-N 2.0 (Buprenorphine and Naloxone) were used for the treatment of addicts.

“During interrogations, it had come to fore that these tablets were misused in the drug de-addiction centres run and owned by Bansal and were sold in the market to other persons (addicts) who were not on the rolls of these rehabilitation centres,” alleged VB in January 2025.

Despite such serious allegations, the health department took eight months to conduct the inspections of these centres.

The owners or authorised representatives of Bansal’s 22 de-addiction centres were informed through email about the inspection schedule and instructed to coordinate with the Civil Surgeon or Programme Officer (Mental Health Cell), Office of the Director, Health Services, Punjab.

These inspections were conducted in the month of August. During the inspection, the authorities examined several parameters, including the verification of purchase bills of medicines, payment records, stock registers, and the details of medicines received, entered, issued, and consumed. Physical verification of medicine stocks was also conducted.

Due to the large size of physical data, the committee randomly scrutinised around 100 patient files from each centre. These physical records were cross-checked with online entries to confirm data accuracy.

In addition, attendance registers, salary records, and counselling registers of the staff were reviewed. Where available, biometric attendance data was matched with the dispensing records.

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