Role of UP ATS, gangster-turned- politician under scanner amid arrests

Cough syrup row

- SHIKHA SALARIA

Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar with others during a protest against the death of children due to kidney failure after consumption of contaminated 'Coldrif' cough syrup in Chhindwara, on the first day of the Winter Session of Madhya Pradesh State Assembly, in Bhopal on Monday. (ANI Photo)

(ANI Photo)

A series of arrests in an international racket involving the sale of codeine-based cough syrups—operating through Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh and extending into Bangladesh—has raised questions about the role of the UP ATS and the alleged proximity of a former Jaunpur MP with several accused individuals.

Images of the racket’s key accused, Shubham Jaiswal, who fled to Dubai soon after the police crackdown, posing with several BJP politicians and members of the Hindu ‘Yuva Vahini, have also gone viral on social media.

The UP STF arrested Amit Singh Tata, a lawyer and emerging politician from Jaunpur’s Rampur block, on November 27 in connection with the multi-crore international cough syrup smuggling racket. Officials stated that Tata’s two firms were involved in the illegal storage and trade of Phensydyl and other codeine-based cough syrups (CBCS), allegedly smuggled to West Bengal and Bangladesh.

In a statement issued after Tata’s arrest, the STF shared details of revelations reportedly made by him during interrogation. According to the STF, Tata said he came in contact with Shubham Jaiswal, a resident of Varanasi’s Prahlad Ghat area and identified as the key accused. Tata claimed Jaiswal operated a large business selling Phensydyl in Ranchi, Jharkhand, under the name Shelly Traders, and that the syrup is widely used as an intoxicant.