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.