A Varanasi court has issued an arrest warrant against Vaishali Jaiswal, also known as Vaishali Poswani, the wife of Shubham Jaiswal, whom police describe as the main accused in the codeine cough syrup trafficking case, Kotwali police said on Monday. The court has directed police to arrest her and produce her before it.
Police say both husband and wife are absconding. Shubham Jaiswal, a resident of Kayasth Tola in the Adampur police station area, carries a reward of Rs 50,000, and according to police, Interpol is also looking for him.
Vaishali's name came up while investigators were tracing money and property allegedly earned from the trade in codeine syrup, police said. During that inquiry, they say, a liquor shop licence and property in the Sigra area, among other assets, were found registered in her name. Police have not put a value on these assets, and none of the allegations against her has been tested in court.
The warrant itself records two addresses for her: Kayasth Tola in the Adampur police station area, and Jagatganj. Kotwali inspector Daya Shankar Singh said efforts to arrest the absconding accused were continuing. Since the warrant came through, police teams have raided her house in Jagatganj and have also been checking with acquaintances and at other places where she might be staying, he said.
She is not the only person being looked for. Apart from Shubham, a special investigation team and police teams are searching for three other accused in the case, according to police. Officers are collecting details of the relatives and close associates of those wanted, and police say further action will depend on what the investigation shows about each person's role.
The family's name runs through the case. Shubham's father, Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, is the proprietor of Shaili Traders, a firm in Ranchi, and is currently lodged in Sonbhadra jail, police said. Investigators allege that Shaili Traders was used to move large quantities of Phensedyl, a codeine-based cough syrup.
Monday's warrant came a day after Rohania police made an arrest on the paperwork side of the case. On Sunday they held Vikas Singh of Prahladghat, accused of issuing a forged experience certificate that police say Shubham used to become the registered competent person of Shaili Traders. Deputy Commissioner of Police for Varuna Zone Rajesh Kumar Pandey said call detail records and other evidence pointed to the certificate, and Vikas Singh, like the others, has not been convicted.
The two developments point the investigation in different directions. The Rohania arrest followed the licence trail back to its source. The warrant against Vaishali follows the money forward, into the shops, licences and land that police allege were bought with it. Investigators have earlier described the wider network as worth around Rs 2,000 crore, though they have not set out how that figure was worked out.
Why the syrup draws this much attention is no mystery to anyone who has followed enforcement in the region. Codeine is a controlled narcotic ingredient, and cough syrups that contain it are meant to move only through licensed distributors and chemists against a prescription. When large consignments slip out of that chain, they are sold on as an intoxicant, and police in eastern Uttar Pradesh have been chasing such networks across state and national borders.
Cases built on financial records have been a feature of Varanasi policing this autumn. Last week the Economic Offences Wing arrested an agent in a Rs 1.5 crore loan fraud case linked to Jaunpur, another investigation where documents and bank trails, rather than a seizure, carried the case.
An arrest warrant is an order to bring a person before the court; it is not a finding of guilt. If a warrant cannot be carried out because the accused is hiding, the law allows a court to take further steps, including issuing a public proclamation requiring the person to appear and, after that, ordering attachment of property. Police have not said whether they intend to seek either in this case.
Until Vaishali is traced or appears before the court, the next move rests with the police teams working through her known addresses in Jagatganj and Adampur. All those named in the case are presumed innocent unless a court decides otherwise.
