Arrest warrants issued for Patanjali founders Ramdev, Balkrishna in misleading ads case

A court in Kerala’s Palakkad on issued bailable arrest warrants against Patanjali Ayurved founders Ramdev and Balkrishna in a case about allegedly misleading advertisements published by the company, Live Law reported on Monday.

The warrants were issued on January 16. A third warrant was also issued for Divya Pharmacy, the marketing arm of Patanjali Ayurved.

This came a day after the Supreme Court warned states and Union territories of contempt proceedings if they failed to act against individuals and companies publishing misleading medical advertisements.

The warrants were issued after the yoga guru and the company’s managing director failed to appear before the court, which registered the case in October.

The matter relates to advertisements published by Divya Pharmacy in Malayalam and English newspapers that allegedly violated several provisions of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act, 1954.

The advertisements claimed that the products could cure high blood pressure and diabetes, according to The Hindu.

The Palakkad court has listed the matter for hearing next on February 1.

Divya Pharmacy, Ramdev and Balkrishna are facing 10 such cases in Kerala – four in Kozhikode, three in Palakkad, two in Ernakulam and one in Thiruvananthapuram – and one in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar.

Patanjali Ayurved was founded by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006.

The company has been criticised by the Supreme Court for publishing misleading advertisements against modern medicine and the…

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