The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday sought the Punjab government’s response on a bail plea filed by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets (DA) case registered by the state vigilance bureau (VB) on June 25. The case alleges laundering of over ₹540 crore of “drug money.”
Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya directed the state to file a status report on the probe and respond to Majithia’s petition by October 14. Majithia’s earlier bail plea had been dismissed by a Mohali court on August 18, following which the VB filed a 40,000-page chargesheet against him on August 22.
Majithia, who was arrested on June 25 and remains in judicial custody, has argued in his plea that the case is politically motivated. He claimed that multiple cases have been filed with the intent to keep him behind bars.
The DA case stems from an investigation by a Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) linked to the 2021 drug case registered against Majithia under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. That FIR was based on a 2018 report of the state’s anti-drug special task force.
Majithia was arrested in 2021 in the NDPS case and spent over five months in Patiala jail before being released on bail in August 2022 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
