Crime branch busts illegal cough syrup racket, seizes Rs 12.46 Lakh

The Crime Branch conducted a raid at Rahemaniya Colony, Kiradpura, where bottles of intoxicating cough syrup were being stored for illegal sale on Tuesday. Four accused were taken into custody, and items worth over Rs 12.46 lakh were seized.

The arrested accused has been identified as Obedulla Abdula(32, Rahemaniya Colony, Kiradpura), Shaikh Sofiyan (34, Baijipura), Abdul Naved (31, Khas Gate), Shaikh Naved (Labor Colony), Shaikh Ayyaz alias Sheru Shaikh (42, near Haj House) and others absconding accused Shaikh Ashfaq, Sarfaraz Mirza, Kaleem Shaikh, Avinash Pachunde, Shaikh Sohel alias Chau, Dawood Khan Pathan, and Shaikh Hafiz. Acting on a tip-off, the Crime Branch raided the residence of Obedulla Abdulla at Rahemaniya Colony. The search recovered 3,000 bottles of CODYLINE cough syrup worth Rs 12 lakh, a substance hazardous to human health, being stored for illegal sale without prescriptions. During questioning, the accused admitted that the stock was purchased from Gujarat and that they had previously sold such cough syrup often used for intoxication to individuals in Shah Bazaar. The raid was conducted under the guidance of senior police inspector Gajanan Kalyankar, with subordinate officers including police inspector Ravikant Gacche and police sub-inspectors Pravin Wagh, Arjun Kadam, and Abhijeet Chikhlikar. A case has been registered at the Jinsi Police Station. The investigation is ongoing under crime branch assistant police inspector Sandeep Kale.