2021 drug case: Majithia skips SIT summons again
The Shiromani Akali Dal leader says he has to be in Delhi to help his lawyers prepare for SLP hearing against him in the Supreme Court on July 23.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia again failed to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2021 drugs case against him on Saturday.
This is the second consecutive SIT summons that Majithia has skipped, citing prior commitments with the court cases. The three-member SIT led by DIG Patiala Range HS Bhullar is probing the case against Majithia. The other two members of SIT are Patiala SSP Varun Sharma and SP Yogesh Sharma.
Earlier, on July 18, the SAD leader expressed inability to appear before the SIT as he had to appear for a hearing in a case in Amritsar court.
In the letter to the SIT, the SAD leader said he had to appear in the defamation case against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and others in the court of chief judicial magistrate, Amritsar, on July 18.
SIT issued fresh summons against him for July 20, but Majithia again skipped appearing before the probe team.
In a communication to SIT sent by his legal counsel, Damambir Singh Sobti, the SAD leader said he would not be able to present himself before the investigating authority as he has to be in Delhi to assist his lawyers in the special leave petition (SLP) filed against him in the Supreme Court by the Punjab government to cancel his regular bail in the NDPS case. The SC hearing is scheduled for July 23.
The communication further said: “The SIT was aware of the hearing in the Supreme Court and had deliberately misused its powers to prevent him from seeking remedies available to him as per law.”
The letter added that the SAD leader had appeared before all SITs formed by the state to probe the case registered under the NDPS Act, and the latest attempt to ensure his presence before the SIT on Saturday was aimed at scuttling his right to have access to the law.
Majithia also alleged that SIT was trying to make a case of non-cooperation against him. The SAD leader has been summoned nearly 10 times by the four SITs formed to probe the case.
Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, 2021, during the tenure of the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government that acted on the probe report of the anti-drug special task force in 2018.