A court in Pune district has directed the police to initiate a preliminary probe against yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his aide Balkrishna, the chairman of Patanjali Ayurved Limited, over their claims that the company’s Coronil tablets were a remedy for COVID-19.
Judge P.V. Sapkal of the Judicial Magistrate First Class court in Junnar taluk directed the Junnar police to investigate the matter and submit a report under Section 202 of CrPC before February 7.
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The court was hearing a private criminal case filed by one Madan Kurhe in July 2021.
In his complaint, filed through advocate Asim Sarode, Mr. Kurhe had alleged that Patanjali Ayurved had been falsely claiming to cure COVID-19 with Coronil during the pandemic with a view to exploit the health crisis commercially.
The complaint said: “It is a classic case to make everyone realise that no one is above the law and has to use the freedom of expression with restrictions and responsibilities.”
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The complainant has alleged offences under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating and dishonest delivery), 270 (act to spread dangerous disease), 504 (peace-breaching insult) and 34 (criminal act by several for common intention) of the IPC read with Sections 3,4 and 5 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.
This is not the first time that a complaint has been lodged against Mr. Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for making such claims.
In June 2021, a first information report (FIR) was lodged by the Jaipur Police against Ramedev and four others, including Balkrishna, for allegedly conspiring to sell Coronil with the apparently misleading claim that it helped cure COVID-19 following some clinical trials.
The FIR said the claim had been made without securing approval from the Union AYUSH Ministry.
The complaint stated that the accused had put the lives of common people at risk, and neither the Centre nor the Rajasthan government had been informed of Coronil’s clinical trials. Patanjali Ayurveda, on the other hand, had claimed that it had complied with all legal formalities.