Punjab and Haryana High Court asks Punjab government to respond to SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s anticipatory bail plea in a case linked to a Rs 540 crore drug money laundering investigation. Majithia claims the case is politically motivated.
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Punjab government to respond to a petition filed by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is seeking anticipatory bail in a criminal case registered against him in Amritsar.
The bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, which heard the plea on Thursday, directed the state to file its response by September 23.
The case stems from an FIR lodged on July 31, which accuses Majithia of obstructing public servants from performing their duties during a Vigilance Bureau (VB) raid at his residence in Amritsar on June 25.
This raid was conducted as part of an ongoing disproportionate assets (DA) investigation, connected to allegations that he laundered over Rs 540 crore of drug money.
Majithia had earlier approached the courts for relief, but his bail plea was dismissed by an Amritsar court on August 27.
Later, on September 10, a Mohali court also rejected his request for a separate barrack at Nabha jail, where he is currently lodged.
His lawyer has told the court that the case is politically motivated, claiming that
“multiple proceedings have been initiated to ensure he remains behind bars.”
The disproportionate assets case is linked to a broader probe by a special investigation team of the Punjab Police into the high-profile 2021 drug scandal.
On August 22, the Vigilance Bureau filed a chargesheet of around 40,000 pages against Majithia in a Mohali court.
Bikram Singh Majithia, a former Punjab minister, has been involved in legal disputes since 2021.
He was first booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after a 2018 report by the state’s anti-drug special task force. Majithia had spent over five months in Patiala jail before the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail in August 2022.
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