Dismissing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Bikram Singh Majithia’s anticipatory bail plea, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Mohali, on Friday ruled that all the “facts and financial transactions” along with his “extend of complicity” need to be thoroughly probed which can only be done under custodial interrogation and not under the protection of anticipatory bail.
In a setback to Majithia, who is currently underground and escaping from the Punjab police, the Judge maintained that his was “not a fit case” to grant the “benefit” of anticipatory bail considering “all the facts and the gravity of the offence”.
“Finding no merit” in Majithia’s bail application, the Judge Sandeep Singla observed that the applicant has “tried to make out a case of political vendetta, but he himself was one of the powerful persons in the State politics till 2017 and the delay in lodging the FIR cannot be a ground to presume that the whole case against the applicant was false”.
The Judge also observed that the FIR has been registered on the basis of a report, which prima facie shows the involvement of the applicant in the drug trade and harbouring of accused involved in drug mafia.
“All these facts and financial transactions and extent of complicity of the applicant needs to be thoroughly investigated, which can be done only under custodial interrogation of the applicant and not under protection of anticipatory bail. Hence, keeping in view all the facts and the gravity of the offence, it is not a fit case where benefit of anticipatory bail can be granted to the bail applicant. Accordingly, finding no merit in the bail application and the same is hereby dismissed,” ruled the Judge in the 14-page order.
Majithia, a day before, had applied for anticipatory bail at Mohali district court, accusing the Congress-led Punjab Government of indulging in “witch-hunting”. He, in his petition, accused the State Government of “wreaking vengeance upon its political opponents”, while dubbing the FIR against him an “election stunt”.
Praying for bail, Majithia pleaded that the Congress had booked him in a false case to use it as an election plank.
Arguing that “in the run-up to the polls, witch-hunting of the political opponents has gone to its peak”, the application said that Majithia has been falsely implicated in the FIR registered under Sections 25, 27(a) and 29 of the NDPS Act.
“The current dispensation i.e. the Congress-led government has left no stone unturned to misuse its powers and position for wreaking vengeance upon its political opponents… To target the Applicant/Petitioner is one of the major election planks of the current government. To fulfil its election stunt, the Congress government of the State of Punjab has been day and night browbeating officers to register false cases against the senior leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal including the Applicant,” said the application.
Referring to Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu as “the arch rival” of the petitioner and accusing Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa of “pre-meditated action”, the bail plea accused the government of coercing officials to implicate Majithia.
The application added that the government has “changed three DGPs over the span of three months. The Bureau of Investigation has also seen three departmental heads/Directors change. Police officers have been forced and coerced to falsely implicate the Applicant/Petitioner or face transfers, charge-sheets and dire consequences. Officers have also been induced with promotions and plum postings if they toe the line of the government”.
The State Government is apprehending that Majithia may leave the country, and thus the look-out circular was issued against him on Wednesday. With this, an alert has been issued at all airports, seaports, and all other places to get hold of Majithia in case he tries to escape.
A case under the NDPS Act was registered against Majithia, at the Punjab State Crime Police Station in Mohali, on late Monday evening on the basis of a 2018 status report of a probe into the drug racket in the Punjab. The report was filed by anti-drug Special Task Force (STF) chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in February 2018.
Majithia, Akali MLA from Majitha, is the brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.