Prayagraj: Hearing a petition relating to the multi-crore codeine syrup smuggling racket, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday allowed a habeas corpus petition of two alleged members of the racket and quashed their detention under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 (PITNDPS Act).A bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev allowed the habeas corpus petitions filed by Vibhor Rana and Vishal Singh and quashed their detention under the PITNDPS Act in connection with cases concerning the alleged diversion and illegal trafficking of codeine-based cough syrups.The petitioners had challenged the July 7 detention order passed under the NDPS Act. They alleged that the detention order suffered from non-application of mind and Rana’s name subsequently surfaced in the investigation through statements attributed to co-accused persons.The petitioners’ plea was that the detention order failed to demonstrate a real possibility of Rana being released from custody and thereafter engaging in activities prejudicial to the purposes of the preventive-detention law.The habeas corpus petitions therefore sought to quash the detention order and release the detenues.The petitions challenged the preventive detention proceedings in the cases registered against the petitioners in Lucknow and Ghaziabad.The main contention raised in the petition was that Phensedyl cough syrup is neither a narcotic drug nor a psychotropic substance and therefore the provisions of the NDPS Act could not be invoked merely because the formulation contains codeine.The petition referred to the central govt’s notification dated November 14, 1985, issued under the NDPS Act, which exempts certain codeine preparations containing not more than 100 mg of the drug per dosage unit and not more than 2.5% concentration in undivided preparations, subject to the conditions prescribed therein.The counsel for the petitioners argued that Phensedyl did not constitute a manufactured drug or narcotic drug under the NDPS Act.After Sonbhadra Police busted the racket smuggling codeine cough syrup to countries like Bangladesh for narcotic uses in Oct 2025, the first case against fugitive kingpin Shubham Jaiswal and 27 others was lodged in Varanasi on Nov 15, 2025.Shubham’s father Bhola Prasad and several other accused in this case have already been arrested, while properties worth several crores of many accused have also been forfeited. Police have also intensified the manhunt for Vaishali, wife of Shubham, after a Varanasi court recently issued a non-bailable warrant against her. Vaishali is also accused in cases of fraud and other offences and has been absconding
