Most of the 14 Patanjali Ayurved products, banned from being sold after their manufacturing licenses were suspended in April, are available to customers at its franchise stores across the national capital and several other states, an investigation by NDTV has found.

On Thursday, NDTV’s teams visited multiple stores in Delhi, Patna and Dehradun with hidden cameras and found that many of these 14 products were readily available to purchase.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, founded by yoga guru Ramdev, had informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the company has stopped the sale of the 14 products and issued instructions to its 5,606 stores to withdraw these products.

It also said media platforms have been asked to withdraw advertisements of these products. However, the reality on ground is different.

While visiting a Patanjali store in south Delhi’s Green Park, an NDTV reporter was able to buy Swasari Vati, that claims to heal respiratory illnesses, as well as Drishti eye drops, touted as an “eye tonic”. The shopkeeper also provided a receipt for the purchase.

Two other banned products, BP Grit for blood pressure and Madhugrit for diabetes, were also seen on display at the shop.

In a Patanjali store in Jangpura, the same products were available for purchase too. When questioned, the shopkeeper said that he has not been told to stop selling these products. Similarly, a store in Delhi’s Kalkaji sold NDTV eight of the 14 banned products including Livamrit Advance and Livogrit that claim to heal liver-related ailments.

Apart from Delhi, these products are also available in Patna as well as Dehradun. NDTV was able to buy 11 of the 14 products in Dehradun.

Currently, the Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Patanjali against modern systems of medicine and offering alternative medicines of its own to heal common ailments.

The top court had on May 14 reserved its order on the contempt notice issued to Ramdev,his aide Balkrishna and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in a misleading advertisements case.

These are the 14 Patanjali products whose manufacturing licenses have been cancelled:  Mukta Vati Extra Power, Lipidom, BP Grit, Livamrit Advance, Livogrit, Eyegrit Gold  Madhugrit, Swasari Gold, Swasari Vati, Bronchom, Swasari Pravahi, Swasari Avaleh, Madhunashini Vati Extra Power, and Patanjali Drishti Eye Drop.

Hyderabad:

A video of Baba Ramdev publicly praising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been making rounds on social media.

Users sharing it claim the video is recent and attributed the praise to a changing political climate in the Opposition’s favour in the ensuing General Elections. In the video, Ramdev says Rahul Gandhi used to get little space in national media but now he is being discussed everywhere. He also praised Rahul’s fitness and the Gandhi family’s association with yoga since Nehru.

बाबा ने भी माहौल को देख के पलटी
मारना शुरू कर दिया pic.twitter.com/15TdGjeD3t

— काव्या AAP (@bindass_ladki) May 10, 2024

Recently, the Supreme Court reprimanded Patanjali founder Ramdev and his associate Acharya Balkrishna concerning misleading advertisements. As a result, they were required to issue a public apology in prominent newspapers for the deceptive promotion of Patanjali’s medicinal products.

Taking a jibe at Ramdev’s open endorsement of the prime minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government, an X user shared the video (Archive) and wrote, “Sensing the situation, Baba has started to flip to the other side.”

“Rahul Gandhi’s hard work is paying off – Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev is praising the Gandhi family! How did this change of heart happen….?” wrote another X user who shared the video (Archive).

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is from 2022 and is being falsely linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

We ran a relevant keyword search and found the video (Archive) posted by BV Srinivas, the national president of Youth Congress on September 16, 2022. Taking a dig at Baba Ramdev, Srinivas had said that his ‘sins would still not be washed away.’

We also found the video published by Live Hindustan’s YouTube channel and its website on September 17, 2022, which stated that Baba Ramdev praised Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Amar Ujala reported the video on September 17, 2022, stating after seeing the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which had started from Kanyakumari, Baba Ramdev praised Rahul Gandhi.

Hence, we conclude that an old video of Baba Ramdev praising Rahul Gandhi is being shared as recent. The claim that Ramdev has changed his tone sensing the change in the political climate in the Opposition’s favour is misleading.

(This story was originally published by NewsMeter, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective.)
 

New Delhi:

The Uttarakhand government, in an affidavit, told the Supreme Court that it has granted permission to file a complaint against Baba Ramdev’s Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for repeated violations of the drug advertisements law and suspended manufacturing licenses for 14 of their products.

In the affidavit, the Uttarakhand government submitted that its State Licencing Authority has issued a public notice intimating that publication of advertisements contrary to the law would entail strict disciplinary and legal action, including fine, imprisonment, or both.

The affidavit filed by the State Licensing Authority, Ayurvedic and Unani Services, stated that it has granted permission on April 12 to the Drug Inspector, Haridwar for filing a complaint against Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for repeated violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954.

“The SLA issued an order, dated April 15, 2024, to Divya Pharmacy and Respondent No. 5-Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., stating therein that the manufacturing licenses for 14 of their products, namely ‘Swasari Gold’, ‘Swasari Vati, Bronchom’, ‘Swasari Pravahi’, ‘Swasari Avaleh’, ‘MuktaVati Extra Power’, ‘Lipidom’, ‘Bp Grit’, ‘Madhugrit’, ‘MadhunashiniVati Extra Power’, ‘Livamrit Advance’, ‘Livogrit’, ‘Eyegrit Gold’ and ‘Patanjali Drishti Eye Drop’, are suspended with immediate effect under Rule 159(1) of The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945,” it said.

“The District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer, Haridwar filed a criminal complaint before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Haridwar against Swami Ramdev, Acharya Balkrishna, Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurved Limited under Sections 3, 4 and 7 of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954,” the affidavit added.

The SLA said that it will continue to take all due and further steps against Divya Pharmacy and Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, as per the procedure prescribed in law and the directions issued by the Supreme Court.

In an order passed on April 10, the top court had ordered the then Joint Director of the State Licencing Authority and all the officers holding the post of District Ayurvedic and Unani Officer, Haridwar from 2018 till date to file their respective affidavits explaining the inaction on their part.

The Indian Medical Association has sought action against Patanjali for violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, which prohibits the advertisement of certain products for the treatment of specified diseases and disorders, including diabetes, heart diseases, high or low blood pressure and obesity.

The ayurvedic company had earlier made an undertaking before the Supreme Court saying that it would not make any casual statements claiming the medicinal efficacy of its products or advertise or brand them in violation of law and would not release any statement against any system of medicine to the media in any form.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned for July the hearing of a plea filed by yoga guru Ramdev to club FIRs lodged against him in different states over his alleged remarks that allopathy cannot cure Covid-19.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and SVN Bhatti granted two weeks’ to the states of Bihar and Chhattisgarh to inform it about the status of the first information reports (FIRs) and the chargesheet filed.

It also granted Ramdev’s counsel liberty to implead the complainants in the case before the top court and posted the matter to July.

Ramdev approached the top court seeking protection in criminal FIRs lodged against him in various states over his alleged remarks on efficacy of allopathy in the treatment of Covid-19.

The yoga guru’s plea sought clubbing of FIRs and the transfer of cases lodged against him to Delhi. The plea also sought a stay on the proceedings in multiple cases lodged against him and had also sought protection from coercive actions in FIRs lodged by Indian Medical Associations (IMA) Patna and Raipur branches and transfer the FIRs to Delhi.

Ramdev has been booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and other provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005.

In a video, Ramdev in 2021 was allegedly heard saying, “Allopathy is a stupid science and medicines such as Remdesivir, Fabiflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat Covid-19 patients.”

His remarks caused massive outrage and the IMA sent over a legal notice to him.

Police in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur had registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the Raipur’s IMA unit against Ramdev for allegedly spreading “false” information about the medicines being used by the medical fraternity for the treatment of Covid-19.

As per the complaint, Ramdev has been allegedly propagating false information and his threatening statements on social media against medicines being used by the medical fraternity, Government of India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and other frontline organisations in the treatment of Covid-19.

The complaint had said there are several videos of Ramdev on social media in which he had allegedly made such misleading remarks.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for failing to respond to a contempt notice for issuing misleading advertisements and ordered yoga guru Ramdev to appear before it.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah also summoned Patanjali managing director Acharya Balkrishna.

The Supreme Court last month pulled up Patanjali for prima facie violation of its assurances about its products and statements claiming their medicinal efficacy. The court had issued a notice to Patanjali and Balkrishna, asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

Read | Supreme Court Warns Ramdev, Patanjali, Tells Them To Stop “Misleading” Ads

It noted today that Patanjali did not file a response even though it had held a press conference after its previous order. “Why haven’t you filed your response yet? We will ask the managing director to appear in the court during the next hearing,” the court said.

The order states both Ramdev and Balakrishna were prima facie in violation of Sections 3 and 4 of the Drugs and Remedies Act, which deal with misleading ads of medicines.

The court also issued a contempt notice to Ramdev, co-founder of Patanjali, and asked him to explain why he should not face action for contempt of court.

Senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Patanjali Ayurved, opposed the move and sought to know, “How Ramdev comes into the picture?”

Read | “Entire Country Is Being Taken For A Ride”: Supreme Court On Patanjali

“You are appearing. We will see on the next date. Enough,” the court replied.

“We had our hands tied earlier but not now. As an officer of the court, you (Mr Rohatgi) should know your position,” said Justice Amanullah.

The court was hearing a petition by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev against the vaccination drive and modern medicines.

On February 27, it had issued a contempt notice to Patanjali and cautioned them against from making any statements against any system of medicine in the media. It had also pulled up the centre for not taking action and said they were sitting with their eyes closed.

Jodhpur:

The Rajasthan High Court has directed yoga guru Ramdevtoappearon October 5 at Barmer’s Chohtan police station for questioning in connection with an FIR against him for allegedly hurtingreligioussentiments, while extending the stayon his arrest.

The court directed Ramdevtoappearbefore the Investigating Officer as and when called by him and also directed the government counsel to produce the case diary in the court on October 16. It extended the stayonRamdev‘s arrest till then.

Justice Kuldeep Mathur gave these directions on Monday while hearing a criminal miscellaneous petition by Ramdev praying for the quashing of the FIR.

“The petitioner is directed toappearbefore the Investigating Officer for interrogation on  05.10.2023   at  11.30  am. The petitioner is further directed toappearbefore the Investigating Officer as and when called by him for interrogation”, the order said.

The court had stayed the arrest of  Ramdev during the previous hearing and directed him toappearbefore the investigating officer for interrogation on or before May 20. But he did not appearbefore the investigating officer.

The complaint was filed against the yoga guru at Chohtan police station in Barmer on February 5 by Pathai Khan for allegedly making remarks against Muslims at a religious event in Barmer on February 2.

Chohtan police had then booked him under the charges of inciting hatred and upsetting religioussentiments.

In his complaint, Khan alleged that Ramdev had made his remarks “deliberately… so that a spirit of animosity and hatred is formed against Islam” and that they had “hurt the feelings of crores of Muslims”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)