The Punjab and Haryana high court denied Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s anticipatory bail application on Monday. Majithia was facing charges of NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances).
The bail application has been dismissed, according to Majithia’s lawyer, Advocate Arshdeep Singh Cheema. ‘Before the HC, we requested an extension of interim release so that we could file an appeal with the Supreme Court, or three days so that we could surrender to the police and file his (Majithia’s) election nomination.’ Majithia’s lawyer stated, “We have yet to receive the order copy.”
Majithia will now approach the Supreme Court for an order of interim protection from arrest in the case. The high court heard both sides’ arguments earlier in the day and issued its decision around 4 p.m. On January 10 and 18, the SAD leader was granted interim protection from arrest. In addition, the high court had requested him to help with the investigation and imposed certain other conditions.
After hearing the arguments from both counsels, Justice Lisa Gill’s bench, which had been hearing the bail plea, reserved the final order in the afternoon Monday. Majithia is now out on interim anticipatory bail after Punjab Police filed a FIR in an NDPS case. The High Court granted him interim bail on the condition that he cooperate with the investigation.
On the previous day of hearing, the Punjab government claimed that Justice Gill had not provided complete cooperation during the probe. His attorney requested a week to surrender. The Court, according to Justice Gill, would take it into consideration. Following the dismissal of his plea, Majithia now has the option of taking his case to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, he has the option to surrender.
Majithia was told, among other things, to keep his phone on all the time and share his live location with the investigating agency via WhatsApp when he was given interim anticipatory bail. He was also told that he had to fully cooperate with the inquiry and follow the rules, including appearing before the investigative agency as necessary. He was also told not to leave the country until the next hearing date and to give the investigative agency his phone number. He was also told not to contact any of the witnesses or anybody else involved in the case in any way, directly or indirectly.
Majithia had also filed an application before the Punjab and Haryana High Court last week, alleging that the sole purpose of filing the FIR against him was to take him into custody and torture him. Senior Advocate P Chidambaram, representing for the State of Punjab, has been opposing Majithia’s bail application, claiming that Majithia has not cooperated fully during the probe.
What exactly is the case of Bikram Singh Majithia?
The Fatehgarh Sahib police filed a complaint against Jagdish Singh Bhola, an Arjuna awardee wrestler turned suspected drug dealer from Bathinda district, on March 3, 2013. Bhola also worked for the police department as a DSP. He was arrested by the authorities on January 6, 2014. At the time, the Shiromani Akali Dal was in power in the state. Bhola was accused of being a kingpin in Punjab’s Rs 5,000-crore drug trafficking. Bhola named Majithia after a hearing in the Mohali trial court, telling media that the Akali leader was also involved in the case.
The ED filed a case in the Patiala Court on January 24, 2014, requesting Bhola’s custody and an investigation into the properties he purchased in Phagwara. The ED told the court that it wants to look into whether Bhola used narcotics money to buy homes. Bhola was taken into ED custody by the court. During interrogation by the ED, Bhola named Bikram Singh Majithia. He named many others, including some police officers, who were in league with smugglers.
In December 2014, a five-member squad lead by special director(north zone) Karnal Singh interrogated Bikram Singh Majithia for several hours, asking him about his ties to narcotics smuggler Satpreet Singh Satta and Pindi from Canada. In this context, the ED issued a detailed report. In the case, the ED also questioned some other Akali leaders as well as a top Congress politician.
In 2017, Capt Amarinder Singh, the Congress campaign’s leader, promised that if his party won power, it would “clean out drugs in four weeks” and imprison drug smugglers and their sponsors. Amarinder established the Special Task Force (STF) as soon as he took office. Harpreet Singh Sidhu, who was previously assigned to the ‘Red Zone’ to deal with Naxal concerns, was reassigned to lead the STF. In a sealed envelope, Sidhu delivered his findings to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“There is adequate evidence on record to further probe the participation of Bikram Singh Majithia,” the STF found in a report presented under seal in 2018. The FIR is mainly based on the ED’s investigation into the Bhola, narcotics case and the anti-drug STF’s 2018 report.
Majithia was on the verge of being arrested after a case was filed in Mohali under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on December 20, last year. The SAD leader has been charged under sections 25, 27A, and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, according to a 49-page FIR filed by the state police Crime Branch at the Mohali police station.
Majithia’s interim bail was extended till Jan 24th:
https://arthparkash.com/english/till-january-24th-majithia-s-interim-bail-prolonged/
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