Chandigarh: A Mohali district court on Wednesday extended the remand of senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia by four days in a disproportionate assets (DA) case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of drug money.
Majithia was produced in Punjab’s Mohali district court amid tight security after his seven-day remand in the vigilance bureau (VB) custody ended on Wednesday.
Majithia was arrested on June 25 last in a fresh case registered against him by VB which stemmed from an ongoing investigation being conducted by Punjab police’s special investigation team (SIT) into the 2021 drug case in which Majithia was booked on the basis of a 2018 report of state’s anti-drug special task force. He was also jailed for over five months and was granted bail by Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2022.
He has also challenged the DA case in the high court terming it ``political vendetta’’ for criticising ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab.
SUKHBIR BADAL, OTHER LEADERS DETAINED
Meanwhile, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and several other senior leaders who were going to express solidarity with Bikram Majithia were detained by the Punjab police and were later released.
Sukhbir who also accused on X, the chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government of ``imposing an undeclared emergency’’ in Punjab held that he was stopped from going to Amb Sahib gurdwara in Mohali and taken to a police station in a bus by police. The SAD leaders held that some people were detained at their residences at some places in the state.
BJP, CONG SHIELDING MAJITHIA: AAP CHIEF ARORA
Meanwhile, the ruling AAP chief and minister Aman Arora accused the BJP-led Centre and the Congress of shielding Majithia.
Highlighting the narcotics control bureau’s (NCB’s) demand for all the documents related to the fresh case against Majithia, Arora held that this demand seemed to be a ploy to assist Majithia. Arora also accused BJP leaders of ``hypocrisy’’ for opposing Punjab government’s action against Majithia.
