The Lucknow Special Task Force (STF) arrested Amit Yadav late on Saturday night for allegedly smuggling codeine-laced cough syrup for intoxication. Amit Yadav, from Maidagin in Varanasi, faces charges registered at the Sushant Golf City police station in Lucknow. During interrogation, he admitted his past roles as the president of Harishchandra Postgraduate College's student union and as state secretary of the Samajwadi Party Yuvjan Sabha. He revealed meeting Shubham Jaisal, the alleged kingpin of the syrup racket, at college. Shubham's father's firm, Shaili Traders, is suspected of smuggling Phensedyl syrup. Amit Yadav bought over 1,00,000 bottles of cough syrup through his firm GL Surgical on Shubham's behalf. They sold the syrup at higher prices with fake sales in other companies' names. Amit also faces charges of rioting, attempted murder, and fraud. The Uttar Pradesh police are investigating a widespread network distributing highly regulated codeine syrup in the state. On December 22, 2025, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath linked the case to the Samajwadi Party. He accused Alok Sipahi, a confirmed SP worker also arrested, and Amit Yadav of party ties. The CM showed photos of Amit with SP president Akhilesh Yadav. He claimed illegal money transfers from Amit and others to Shaili Traders. Police are probing involvement of several Yadavs in the illegal syrup diversion. This crackdown aims to stop the profitable but dangerous syrup smuggling affecting the region.