Three people jailed for violating food safety standards in production and distribution of Patanjali Elaichi Soan Papdi

The Pithoragarh High Court has sentenced three people to six months’ imprisonment for violating food safety norms during the production and distribution of Patanjali Elaichi Soan Papdi. The court also imposed fines ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹25,000.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ritesh Verma said Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Singh delivered the verdict on Saturday.

The court sentenced Leeladhar Pathak, a trader from Berinag town, to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of ₹5,000 for the sale of the non-compliant product. Ajay Joshi, deputy director of Kanhaji Distributors Pvt Ltd, an authorized Patanjali distributor based in Ramnagar, Nainital, was sentenced to a similar jail term and fined ₹10,000. The highest penalty was imposed on Abhishek Kumar, deputy managing director of the company, who was fined. ₹25,000 in addition to six months’ imprisonment.

The convictions were made under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. Samples of Patanjali Elaichi Navratna Soan Papdi were collected from Pathak’s store on September 17, 2019. These samples were then sent to the National Laboratory in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh for analysis.

Following laboratory analysis, reports indicated that the samples did not meet prescribed food safety standards. Therefore, a case was registered in 2021, resulting in the recent court ruling.

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