Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday refused to accept the Samajwadi Party’s demand in the Assembly for a discussion on the illegal trade of codeine cough syrup, asserting that the case was being probed. The allegation that some people died after consuming codeine cough syrup in Uttar Pradesh is wrong. Seeking to turn up the heat on the Opposition party, Adityanath said the SP government had itself issued a licence to manufacturers and suppliers of codeine cough syrup in 2016. They held up pictures of Shubham Jaiswal, the alleged kingpin of the cough syrup racket, with deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak. “The real drug mafia of Uttar Pradesh operate confidently under BJP rule and they are given protection,” Akhilesh had said on Sunday.

Source: The Telegraph December 23, 2025 01:53 UTC