Drugs case: Majithia's anticipatory bail plea dismissed by Mohali court

A Mohali court on Friday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been booked in a drug case.

Majithia had moved a court on Thursday after the case was registered and a lookout circular issued against him.

The bail application was filed by Majithia's counsel D S Sobti, who told reporters outside the court that the additional sessions judge "dismissed the plea".

Majithia in his plea had submitted that the Congress government in the state had "left no stone unturned to misuse its powers and position for wreaking vengeance upon its political opponents".

"In this case, though, from the facts, the applicant has tried to make out a case of political vendetta but applicant himself was one of the powerful persons in the state politics till the year 2017 and delay in lodging the FIR cannot be a ground to presume that whole case against the applicant is false," the court order said.

The court said the question of legality of the FIR also cannot be a ground for the grant of anticipatory bail.

The FIR has been registered on the basis of report which prima facie "shows the involvement of the applicant in the drug trade" and "harbouring" of the accused involved in it, the court said.

"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 the protection of anticipatory bail," the court said.

Hence, keeping in view all facts and the gravity of the offence, it is not a fit case where benefit of anticipatory bail can be granted to the applicant, the order said.

"Accordingly, finding no merit in the bail application and the same is hereby dismissed. However, any observation made herein before shall have no bearing on the merits of the case," the court order read.

On Monday, Majithia, 46, was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on the basis of a 2018 report of probe into a drug racket in the state.

Majithia, is the brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Majithia had earlier denied all charges against him.

The Shiromani Akali Dal had called the registration of the FIR against Majithia as "political vendetta".

The 49-page FIR was registered by the state Crime Branch at its Mohali police station.

"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/petitioner," the bail plea had contended.

The petitioner had also pleaded that three DGPs and three Directors of Bureau of Investigation were changed and police officers coerced to falsely implicate the applicant.