Chhattisgarh Police filed closure report in Ramdev case, SC told

The Chhattisgarh Police have filed a closure report in a case over yoga guru Ramdev's alleged remarks against the use of allopathic medicines during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing before a Bench led by Justice MM Sundresh, said complaints against Ramdev appeared to have been “sponsored” by certain interested groups.

The Bench deferred the hearing to December after senior counsel Siddharth Dave — representing Ramdev — said as per previous directions, the State of Chhattisgarh had filed its response but the State of Bihar was yet to do it.

Earlier, the Bench had asked Ramdev to add the complainants as parties to his plea seeking stay of the criminal proceedings. Ramdev had impleaded the Centre, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and IMA as parties.

The Patna and Raipur chapters of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) lodged complaints against Ramdev in 2021 alleging that his remarks were likely to cause prejudice to Covid control mechanism and may dissuade people from availing proper treatment.

Dave earlier said his client made a statement in 2021 that he does not believe in allopathic medicines to which some doctors took offence and lodged multiple cases against him.

Having been booked under various provisions of IPC and the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Yoga guru has sought a stay on investigation on the criminal complaints.

Ramdev, whose statements stirred a nationwide debate on Allopathy versus Ayurveda had, however, withdrawn them after receiving a letter from the then Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who called his remarks "inappropriate".

The Delhi Medical Association (DMA) has sought permission to become a party to the case, alleging that Ramdev insulted Allopathy and "instigated" people to disregard vaccines and treatment protocols. Ramdev's Patanjali earned over Rs 1,000 crore by selling "Coronil" kits which were not approved by the competent authority, it alleged.