Punjab: SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia sent to judicial custody till March 8 in drug case

Chandigarh: Senior Akali leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia was remanded to judicial custody on Thursday after he surrendered before a court in Mohali district, near here, in a drug case registered against him in December last year.

The trial court which sent Majithia to judicial custody till March 8, has also scheduled the matter for hearing on Friday.

Majithia, a three-time MLA, surrendered before the court at around 11 am and applied for regular bail on the directions of the Supreme Court, which while conducting a hearing on his bail application had granted the stay on his arrest till February 24.

A bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli on January 31, had asked Majithia to surrender before the trial court concerned.

It may be recalled that Majithia was booked under Sections 25 (punishment for allowing premises), 27 (A) (whoever is financing any activities pertaining to narcotic drugs), and 29 (party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, by Mohali police. The case was registered on the basis of a report submitted by the special task force (STF) chief and additional director general of police (ADGP) Harpreet Singh Sidhu.

He had moved the Mohali court on December 24 which dismissed his anticipatory bail plea following which he moved the Punjab and Haryana high court which asked him on January 10 to join the probe on January 12 and gave him interim protection.

Subsequently, Majithia remained underground for 20 days and surfaced to join the probe. The high court dismissed the regular bail to Majithia on January 25 following which he moved the Supreme Court.

Majithia, who is the brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and the brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, contested as the SAD candidate from Amritsar (East) seat against Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in the February 20 state assembly elections.

It is pertinent to mention here that the issue of drugs (`chitta') has been one of the most volatile issues in Punjab and Sidhu had often raised it against even former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for the latter’s soft handling to check it.

After being booked in the case, Majithia, a sworn enemy of Sidhu had accused the latter of implicating him in a false case and decided to leave his home turf to fight him in the latter seat this election.

After Majithia was booked in the case in December, the SAD supremo and former five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had also termed it as a political vendetta and said that the Congress government had changed three DGPs to book his family members including Majithia.