5 arrested for supplying cough syrup by creating fake pharma companies in UP's Varanasi

Varanasi, Dec 28 (PTI) Police in Varanasi on Sunday arrested five persons for illegally supplying codeine-laced cough syrup by allegedly creating fake pharmaceutical companies using forged documents, a police official said.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Neetu Katyayan said that two separate cases were registered at Rohania and Sarnath police stations regarding the illegal trafficking of cough syrup.

Both cases were found to have similar modus operandi, she said, adding that police arrested a total of five people in these cases.

Katyayan said in the Rohania case, three people, Swapnil Kesari, Dinesh Yadav, and Ashish Yadav, were arrested. In the Sarnath case, police arrested two individuals, Vishnu Pandey and Lokesh Agarwal.

The job of all these accused was to open illegal shell companies, obtain GST numbers and procure licenses from the drug agency.

However, the investigation revealed that these companies existed only on paper, with no actual purchase or sale of goods and were used to generate fake GST bills and invoices. Large financial transactions were made through these companies, police said.

The operation was carried out with the help of associates of the kingpins, Shubham Jaiswal and Divesh Jaiswal, she said, adding that the final transactions were made in companies created by them.

During the investigation, police found a total of five shell companies, Katyayan said.

In the Rohania case, fraudulent transactions worth Rs 13 crore were detected from three companies -- Al Uqba, SB Pharma, and Singh Medicos, she said, adding that similarly, two companies in Sarnath siphoned off approximately Rs 10 crore.

The cough syrup was sent to Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh at inflated prices. The money received from there was routed back to Varanasi through hawala (illegal money transfer) channels.

The entire smuggling racket was linked to Shubham Jaiswal.

Police in Varanasi are preparing to seize assets belonging to Shubham Jaiswal, who carries a Rs 50,000 reward and a look-out notice in connection with the illegal trade of codeine-laced cough syrup.

"The Special Investigation Team identified assets worth about Rs 38 crore belonging to Shubham Jaiswal and his family and placed the findings before the court. Based on this, the court issued a notice seeking details of the properties within a week," Police Commissioner Mohit Agarwal had earlier said.

The SIT is examining diversion of medicines, financial transactions and links among the accused, with officials citing evidence of super-stockists and cross-border trafficking to Nepal and Bangladesh.

The state government had registered 79 cases, named 225 people and arrested 78 accused, while raids have been conducted at 134 firms, he said.

The police are probing an alleged illegal network involved in the storage and distribution of highly regulated codeine-laced cough syrups across the state. PTI COR NAV SHS SHS