UP cough syrup smuggling case: SP youth wing’s former state secretary arrested

Varanasi: The Lucknow unit of the Special Task Force (STF) has arrested a man in connection with the illegal storage and smuggling of codeine-laced cough syrup for intoxicating purposes, STF officials said on Sunday.

The accused was identified as Amit Yadav, a resident of Maidagin in Varanasi, and was arrested late on Saturday night.

According to STF officials, a case was registered against Yadav at the Sushant Golf City police station in Lucknow for cough syrup smuggling, and he was being sought in connection with the case.

During interrogation, Yadav revealed that he had previously served as the president of the student union of Harishchandra Postgraduate College, Varanasi, and the state secretary of the Samajwadi Party Yuvjan Sabha.

Amit revealed that he had met Shubham Jaisal, the alleged kingpin of the cough syrup racket, while studying at Harishchandra College.

Shaili Traders, the firm of Shubham’s father Bhola Prasad was allegedly involved in smuggling Phensedyl cough syrup from Abbott.

Cough syrup containing codeine is used as an intoxicant and is in high demand in West Bengal and Bangladesh, making its smuggling highly profitable.

Seeing the benefits, Amit purchased over 1,00,000 bottles of the cough syrup through his firm, GL Surgical, at Shubham’s behest. These were sold at higher prices by showing fake sales in the names of other firms. Amit already faces charges of rioting, attempted murder, and fraud, officials said.

The UP Police is probing an alleged illegal network involved in the storage and distribution of highly regulated codeine-laced cough syrups across the state. On December 22, 2025, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had strongly rebutted allegations by Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey over “deaths” allegedly due to the consumption of fake medicines and codeine syrup.

Adityanath had said that evidence had emerged linking the accused in the codeine cough syrup case to the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Speaking in the House, he said that Alok Sipahi, who has been arrested in the case, was a “confirmed Samajwadi Party worker”, and showed photographs to claim that another accused, Amit Yadav, was seen with SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

He said Amit Yadav had earlier been associated with the party’s Yuvjan Sabha.

Adityanath also alleged that police investigations had revealed that the kingpin of the codeine cough syrup case, Shubham Jaiswal, had links with the SP and that he was Amit Yadav’s business partner.

The chief minister had claimed that illegal transactions had taken place from the accounts of Amit Yadav and Milind Yadav to Shaili Traders, and evidence had surfaced against Manoj Yadav, Rajeev Yadav and Mukesh Yadav in the illegal diversion of codeine-based cough syrup.