Bikram Singh Majithia, 46, a Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab minister, was granted interim protection from arrest in a drugs case filed against him by Punjab Police in Mohali on December 20.
Justice Lisa Gill of the Punjab and Haryana high court bench issued the order. The precise order is still pending. However, lawyers involved in the case claim that he has been ordered to join the investigation and that police have been warned not to arrest him until the next hearing date.
Punjab Police charged Majithia with violating sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, including Sections 25 (punishment for allowing premises), 27 (A) (whoever is financing any narcotic drug-related activities), and 29 (who is financing any narcotic drug-related activities) (party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence). Since then, Majithia’s whereabouts have remained unknown.
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Majithia’s case was denied by a Mohali court on December 24. The government had replaced three Punjab Police chiefs in three months to get this FIR issued, according to the appeal, which called the FIR a “election stunt.” Three department heads have also changed at the Bureau of Investigation, according to the report. The appeal also accused Punjab Congress chairman Navjot Singh Sidhu of engaging in “unwarranted propaganda” against Majithia, as well as deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa of displaying “intense hate” for him.
The STF study, on which the FIR is based, was either replaced or amalgamated with a subsequent report by a state government committee, according to the petition. Trials in all drug cases have resulted in the acquittal of some defendants and the conviction of others. According to the report, none of the defendants mentioned the petitioner.
The government machinery was used for the benefit of drug cartels during the Akali regime in Punjab, according to Punjab Police. The police claimed that without Majithia’s custodial interrogation, the case could not be cracked and “behind and forward links” could not be proven. Majithia was a prominent minister in the Akali government, and the drug trade offences occurred during the SAD term, according to the police.
The SIT further stated that incriminating evidence had been obtained against Majithia. The court was also provided a sealed cover report.
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The SIT refuted claims of political vendetta, stating that the FIR was filed based on prima facie evidence. The statement of Harpreet Singh Sidhu, the head of the Special Task Force, who had submitted the 2018 report to the high court on Majithia’s “role,” which became the basis of the FIR, has been recorded, as has the statement of Niranjan Singh, the former deputy director of the Enforcement Directorate, who had summoned Majithia in 2014 in connection with money-laundering allegations in the drugs trade. According to the police, the STF report was based on a note written by Niranjan Singh.
