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HC seeks Punjab’s response on Majithia’s bail plea by October 14
A Mohali court had dismissed his bail plea on August 18, and subsequently on August 22, the VB submitted a 40,000-page chargesheet against Majithia before the local court
The high court on Wednesday sought the Punjab government’s response on a plea from Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, seeking bail in a disproportionate assets (DA) case registered by the state vigilance bureau on June 25 on allegations of laundering of ₹540 crore of ‘drug money.’
The Punjab and Haryana high court bench of justice Tribhuvan Dahiya acted on the plea from the Akali leader and has sought a status report on the probe and response to the plea by October 14.
A Mohali court had dismissed his bail plea on August 18, and subsequently on August 22, the VB submitted a 40,000-page chargesheet against Majithia before the local court.
Majithia, who was arrested on June 25 and is in judicial custody, has been claiming that the case is politically motivated. Multiple cases have been filed to keep the petitioner behind bars, he has claimed in his plea.
The DA case stems from a probe being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team (SIT) into the 2021 drug case registered against him. In 2021, he was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug special task force. Majithia spent more than five months in Patiala jail and walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana high court granted him bail.
One more petition from him seeking anticipatory bail is pending before the high court in a case registered on July 31 on the complaint of a VB team, which conducted a raid on his house in connection with the DA case. The FIR was registered on allegations of obstructing public servants from performing their duty during a VB raid on his house on June 25 in connection with the DA case.
