Senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia booked in old drug case

A senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia was booked by the Punjab police for his alleged involvement in a drug case.

A case under various provisions of the NDPS Act has been registered against former Punjab cabinet minister Majithia, who is also a brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, in the State Crime Police Station in Mohali.

The State Crime Police station lodged an FIR under Section 25, 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act on a complaint filed by the Bureau of Investigation based on a report submitted by Special Task Force (STF) chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu in this context. The police may arrest Majithia any time.

Majithia was booked in the old case after Siddharth Chattopadhya took over as DGP Punjab and reviewed the STF report. Chattopadhya had also headed a SIT on drugs and submitted a sealed report to Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The Punjab government has requested the Punjab and Haryana High Court to open the sealed report. It is also alleged that former Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh had been shielding Majithia and did not follow the case in court.

A drug lord Jagdish Bhola, who was arrested by Punjab Police in the synthetic drug case, had named Majithia as kingpin of the drug trade in Punjab. The erstwhile SAD-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal had shifted the SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib for obtaining confession against Majithia.

Besides Congress, political parties including BJP and AAP had been demanding Majithia’s arrest in the drug case. Brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Majithia was also named as an accused in the Rs 6000 crore synthetic drug hawala case investigated by Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had also questioned Majithia in 2014, but the case was allegedly hushed up following political pressure.

Seeking his arrest, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had time and again mounted pressure on the Punjab government.

Taking to social media, soon after an FIR was registered against Majithia, Sidhu tweeted: “After 5.5 Years of fight against Corrupt System run by Badal Family & Captain and delay of 4 years without action taken on ED & SFT Report against Majithia. Finally now, after pursuing credible officers in positions of power and influence, the first step has been taken!!”.

Meanwhile, Parkash Singh Badal, termed the act a political vendetta and condemnable. Badal said, “This is not new for us. We will fight against it."