UP govt forms IG-led SIT to probe illegal trade of codeine cough syrup; 32 arrested

“On the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, an SIT under an IG-level officer is being constituted to probe the illegal diversion and trade spread across five districts. The SIT will also include officials from the Food and Drug Safety Authority (FDSA),” Prasad said.

A total of 128 FIRs have been registered across 28 districts in Uttar Pradesh, and 32 people have been arrested so far.

Uttar Pradesh DGP Rajeev Krishna said that three of the five main accused — Bhola Jaiswal from Varanasi, Vibhor Rana from Saharanpur, and Saurabh Tyagi from Ghaziabad — have been arrested.

“The roles of the remaining two accused are being investigated, and the police are collecting evidence against them,” Krishna said, adding, “Police have so far recovered nearly 3.5 lakh bottles of the codeine-based syrup, with an estimated market value of around Rs 4.5 crore and have arrested 32 people in connection with the trafficking case.”

Bhola Jaiswal is the father of Shubham Jaiswal, the prime accused in the case, who is believed to have fled to Dubai with his family, police said.

A video circulating online shows Shubham Jaiswal purportedly denying any involvement in the crime. In the clip, he claims that he has been wrongly implicated by certain people.

Meanwhile, FDSA Commissioner Roshan Jacob said that action being taken in Uttar Pradesh has no link with a recent incident in Madhya Pradesh, where several children reportedly died after consuming contaminated cough syrup.

She added that the department has initiated strict administrative measures against those involved in the illegal trade. So far, notices for the cancellation of nearly 280 drug licences have been issued as part of the ongoing crackdown.

The Uttar Pradesh Police registered the first FIR in the case on October 18, after seizing two trucks transporting over one lakh bottles of codeine-based cough syrup in Sonbhadra, and arrested three people on the spot.

During their interrogation, police uncovered additional leads that prompted the Ghaziabad Police to launch a joint operation with their counterparts in Sonbhadra. The coordinated raids in Ghaziabad resulted in the recovery of more than 1.5 lakh additional bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, and eight more suspects were taken into custody. As the investigation progressed, police identified five super-stockists believed to be central to the illegal supply network.

Meanwhile, the UP STF registered a separate case in Lucknow and has so far, arrested nine people, including a dismissed police constable and another accused Amit Kumar Singh alias Amit Tata.

The arrests of these two triggered a political controversy after photographs surfaced on social media showing them in the company of former Jaunpur BSP MP Dhananjay Singh. The police, however, have clarified that no evidence linking Dhananjay Singh to the case has been found so far.

In response to the allegations, Singh denied any involvement and demanded that the matter be handed over to the CBI for an independent probe.

Slamming the BJP government over the absence of “bulldozer action” in the case, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav wrote on X, “Now that the deadly misdeeds of BJP members have come to light, it appears as if the bulldozer has fallen unconscious after drinking cough syrup — or perhaps those operating it have.”

In a statement, the party said that while the Chief Minister has frequently claimed a policy of “one district, one mafia,” the current developments suggest that every department now has its own mafia. Without directly naming Singh, Yadav said that the Jaunpur case has surfaced, and “many more will follow.”

In February last year, the Uttar Pradesh government constituted a joint investigation team comprising the Special Task Force (STF) and the Uttar Pradesh Food Safety & Drug Administration Department to probe allegations that cough syrup and other codeine-based medicines were being illegally stored, traded as intoxicants, and smuggled to states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal, as well as across the border to Bangladesh and Nepal.

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