Paonta Sahib firm receives major relief in NDPS court case regarding codeine-based syrup

Judicial Crackdown

Posted by AI on 2025-09-08 15:23:42 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-09 15:41:50

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An NDPS Act court in Jammu has discharged the owner of Vidit Healthcare, Neeraj Bhatia, in a case involving the alleged illegal sale of codeine-based syrup. This comes after a complex web of nefarious sales was unearthed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Jammu.

Bhatia, who was arrested in August 2024, was discharged by the court on December 13, 2024, citing that the codeine syrup seized by the NCB was purchased with a valid purchase order and manufactured under a drug licence. The court also noted that the concentration of codeine in the Cocrex syrup was far below the legal threshold of 2.5%, rendering it a therapeutic drug instead of a narcotic one.

As such, the court concluded that the provisions of the NDPS Act do not apply to this case. This decision comes after drug authorities sought a status report from Vidit Healthcare, which triggered Bhatia to present the NCB court order from December 2024.

This decision signals a major relief for Vidit Healthcare, although the outcome of the ED's investigation is still pending.

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