Lucknow, Jun 15 A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has rejected the bail plea of a Balrampur district-based wholesale drug dealer Varun Lath in a case involving the alleged illegal diversion and misuse of codeine-based cough syrup.
Passing the order on June 8, Justice Rajeev Bharti observed that merely possessing a valid drug sale licence does not grant immunity from prosecution under the NDPS Act.
The case was registered at the Tulsipur police station in Balrampur district.
According to the prosecution, an inspection of Ashok Medical Store was conducted at the direction of the Food Safety and Drug Administration.
The probe allegedly revealed serious irregularities in the purchase and sale records of Codeiva cough syrup, a codeine-based formulation.
It was alleged that large quantities of the cough syrup had been sold without maintaining the mandatory records and supporting sale documents.
Additional Advocate General (AAG) Anoop Trivedi opposed the bail plea submitting that the investigation had uncovered the applicant's involvement in an organised network engaged in the diversion of codeine-based cough syrup.
It argued that the quantity involved fell within the commercial category, thereby attracting the stringent conditions for bail under Section 37 of the NDPS Act.
The state counsel further pointed out that several cases relating to the diversion and misuse of codeine-based medicines had surfaced in recent years.
The applicant contended that he was a licensed wholesale dealer legally authorised to purchase and sell such medicines. He also argued through his counsel that no contraband had been recovered from him and that he had been falsely implicated.
Rejecting the plea, the court held that the material collected during the investigation prima facie indicated serious allegations of diversion of codeine-based medicines.
It observed that, at this stage, it could not record satisfaction that the accused was not guilty of the offences alleged or that he was unlikely to commit any offence if released on bail.
