Cough syrup nexus: Father of fugitive kingpin arrested in Kolkata
This is the second major arrest in three days after Amit Singh ‘Tata’; an application for transit remand was filed in a Kolkata court, and the accused will be brought to Sonbhadra after approval
In the second major breakthrough in the ₹100-crore illegal Codeine-based cough syrup nexus, the Sonbhadra police on Sunday arrested alleged smuggler Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, father of the fugitive kingpin Shubham Jaiswal, from Kolkata, West Bengal.
This arrest comes three days after Amit Kumar Singh alias Amit Tata, resident of Jaunpur, was taken into custody from Lucknow on November 27, for allegedly being a key figure in operating the cough syrup nexus.
Bhola Prasad was preparing to flee abroad to join his son Shubham Jaiswal, who is stated to have fled to Dubai along with his family and two associates after the scam came to light, officials familiar with the matter said.
The arrest is the latest development in the widening probe into an interstate pharmaceutical-diversion racket that investigators said supplied controlled substances to Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, West Bengal and Bangladesh.
A joint team of Sonbhadra Police, Special Investigation Team (SIT) and Special Operations Group (SOG), led by additional superintendent of police Tribhuvan Nath Tripathi, arrested Bhola, resident of Varanasi, from Kolkata.
Earlier, the arrest of Amit Kumar Singh followed the November 12 arrest of Vibhor Rana and Vishal Singh from Saharanpur. Their interrogation reportedly led officers to Tata’s alleged role.
According to officials, the SIT investigation traced Bhola’s alleged role in the nexus following a crackdown by Sonbhadra superintendent of police Abhishek Verma against the drug mafia and cough syrup smuggling.
Police said an application for transit remand was filed in a Kolkata court, and the accused will be brought to Sonbhadra after approval.
Officials said more than ₹100 crore worth of cough syrup may have been procured using fabricated documents, with a substantial portion routed to trafficking networks.
The probe intensified after 1,19,675 vials of cough syrup were recovered from two containers during a checking operation in Sonbhadra on October 18, 2025.
Based on information given by accused Brij Mohan and Shivhari, Sonbhadra Police later seized a large stock of cough syrup and ₹20 lakh cash from four trucks in Ghaziabad.
Officials said Bhola allegedly routed illegal supplies through a Ranchi-based company, using fake billing to distribute cough syrup across multiple districts. The SIT found suspected fraudulent transactions worth nearly ₹ 25 crore in Bhadohi, Chandauli, Varanasi and Sonbhadra. Police said most of the firms involved were found to be non-existent, and related bank accounts have been frozen.
On November 29, drug inspector Rajesh Maurya lodged a case at Robertsganj Police Station under Sections 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2)(A) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 27(A) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. It was alleged that between April 1, 2024, and August 23 this year, 753,000 vials of Phensedyl syrup were sold on the black market through two fake firms of village Barkara.
Police said Bhola was also wanted in Chandauli, Jaunpur and Ghazipur. To trace the full network, an SIT was formed in mid-November to investigate the alleged cough syrup racket registered under the Kotwali police station area in Varanasi.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said they are also examining the alleged proximity of Amit Tata to a controversial eastern Uttar Pradesh politician with a history of organised-crime accusations.
He said the unnamed politician—who rose from gangland networks in the 1990s to become an influential political figure—has been repeatedly mentioned in official inquiries, police dossiers and judicial proceedings over the years. His name surfaced in several high-profile killings inside and outside prisons, drawing national attention and repeated scrutiny from law-enforcement agencies.
The STF official stated that Tata admitted during questioning that he invested in two firms, one based in Dhanbad and other in Varanasi, allegedly controlled by Shubham Jaiswal.
According to STF sources, the investigators are also analysing whether existing networks—established originally for extortion, sand-mining control, contract allocation and jail-based intimidation—may have been repurposed to support high-profit pharmaceutical trafficking.
Sonbhadra police arrested alleged smuggler Bhola Prasad Jaiswal in Kolkata, linked to a ₹100-crore cough syrup racket. This follows the arrest of Amit Kumar Singh, a key figure in the operation. Investigators uncovered a network supplying controlled substances across multiple states and countries, with ties to organized crime and fraudulent firms. The probe continues.