A hoarding with an image of Baba Ramdev is seen inside a Patanjali store.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
After their packaged soan papdi failed the food test, three men working for yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali brand have been jailed, as per a report in the Times of India.
The order was passed by Pitrogarh's chief judicial magistrate. One of the convicts, Abhishek Kumar, is an assistant manager with Patanjali.
Quality concerns over the brand's soan papdi were first flagged in 2019 when a shop at Pitrogarh's Main Market in Berinag was visited by a food safety inspector. The brand name of the product in question is Patanjali Navratna Elaichi Soan Papdi.
Forensic testing of the samples was conducted on May 18, 2019. This was followed by notices issued to the company's head office in Haridwar and Ramnagar-based Kanaha Ji Distributor, the publication reported.
The lab report was submitted to food safety authorities in December 2020, and it revealed that concerns over the substandard quality were true.
Subsequently, authorities filed cases against distributor Ajay Joshi, Kumar, and businessman Lila Dhar Pathak.
The court handed Joshi, Kumar, and Pathak sentences of six months each, along with fines of Rs 10,000, Rs 25,000, and Rs 5,000, respectively.
"The evidence presented in court clearly demonstrated the substandard quality of the product," the publication quoted a food safety official as stating.
Patanjali founders have recently been rebuked by the Supreme Court for their advertisements claiming their product Coronil can cure Covid-19.
Following these legal challenges, the company reported a 22 per cent fall in fourth-quarter profit.
Last month, the Supreme Court reprimanded the head of a state drug regulator for negligence in addressing claims made by Patanjali Ayurved.
Despite being informed in 2018 about advertisements by its Divya Pharmacy unit, which claimed to cure chronic diseases, the state drugs department failed to take action against Patanjali Ayurved, prompting criticism from the court.
With Reuters inputs