Shiromani Akali Dal Politician and former pastor Bikram Majitiya was arrested in a drug case on Monday just weeks before the Punjabi-speaking congregational elections. The Punjab Bureau of Investigation lodged a case under the NDPS Act at the State Special Operations Cell Police Station in Mohali. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Punjab Congress chairman, expressed his delight in a series of tweets, writing: “After 5.5 years of fighting against the corrupt system led by the Badal Family and Captain, and a 4-year delay without action on the ED & STF Report on Majithia. Finally, a first step has been taken after lobbying for credible officials in positions of authority and influence.”
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Majithia, the brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Badal, is a key person in the party who had significant authority in the last Akali administration. Majithia has long been accused by the Congress and other parties of having ties to the state narcotics cartel, which both Majithia and SAD have denied. On the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the chief of Punjab’s anti-drug Special Task Force, Harpreet Singh Sidhu, filed a report on the state’s drug racket in 2018. The report, however, has yet to be made public.
Sidhu said that the FIR against Majithia was filed based on the STF report, and that his four-year request for it had finally been granted. While Amarinder Singh was forced to resign as chief minister due to allegations of favouring the Akalis, CM Charanjit Singh Channi has also been questioned by Sidhu.
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SAD has been protesting in recent days, saying that the Channi administration is attempting to “frame” Majithia in a fake narcotics case, expressing his inability to register a case against Majithia while citing the STF report being with the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the case being under-judice. Asthana has been on medical leave since sending the message. Justice will not be served “unless the key perpetrators of the Drug Mafia are given exemplary punishment,” Sidhu stated on Tuesday.
