Varanasi: Acting on the Nov 2025 seizure of a huge illegal codeine cough syrup stock by Rohaniya police, Varuna zone police have booked nine accused under the Gangsters Act. The list includes absconding kingpin Shubham Jaiswal and his jailed father Bhola Prasad, who has been named gang leader in the chart.Police Commissioner Mohit Agrawal said this is the first Gangsters Act case for codeine syrup smuggling. He added that Kotwali and Sarnath police will follow with similar action in their cases.In the gang chart by Rohaniya police, Bhola Prasad has been listed as the gang leader. Other members include Shubham, Azad Jaiswal, Mahesh Kumar Singh, Shivakant alias Shiv, Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Ashish Yadav of Varanasi, Swapnil Keshari of Chandauli, and Saurabh Tyagi of Ghaziabad.The report contains, “They are collectively involved in an organized criminal gang active at the inter-district level. The main ringleader of this gang is Bhola. He, along with his gang members, illegally smuggles and stores codeine-based cough syrup for financial, material and undue worldly gain for himself and his gang members, earning money illegally and spending it on luxury and extravagance. Their primary criminal activity is the illegal smuggling and storage of codeine-based cough. syrup with common intent for illegal financial gain.“On Nov 19, 2025, Rohania police seized 18,600 bottles of Phensedyl and 75,150 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup from the warehouse of Mahesh Kumar Singh at Bhadwar. A chargesheet has been filed against all these nine accused.
