Chandigarh:
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday arrested senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia after conducting raids at 25 locations in Punjab, including at the residence of the former minister in Amritsar, sources said.
Bikram Majithia’s wife and Akali MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia claimed that a disproportionate assets case was registered against him.
However, the Bureau is yet to confirm the details of the case in which it has arrested the Akali leader.
The Bureau along with police conducted raids at 25 locations in Punjab which comprised nine locations in Amritsar, including that of Mr Majithia, who is the brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.
Mr Majithia is already facing a probe in a 2021 drugs case.
He and his wife claimed that members of the Vigilance Bureau barged into their house in Green Avenue in Amritsar. They claimed that a similar raid was conducted at their residence in Chandigarh.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife and former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and many senior Akali leaders lashed out at the AAP government over the raid at the residence of Mr Majithia.
Ms Kaur told reporters that a disproportionate assets case has been registered against her husband.
“We will continue to fight. People will stand by Majithia,” she said.
Earlier, as the news about the raid at Majithia’s residence emerged on social media, Akali leaders and supporters headed towards his residence and shouted slogans against the Bhagwant Mann government.
A heavy force was deployed at a road leading to the residence of Mr Majithia with policemen not allowing anyone to pass the barricades.
As a team of officials entered Mr Majithia’s house, Kaur asked officials, “What is happening? I want to know what is going on. How did you barge into my house without my knowledge”.
Bikram Majithia also alleged that the vigilance officials “barged into” the house, “terrorising” his children.
The former minister could be heard arguing with a vigilance official, expressing his dismay over the manner in which they entered his house.
“You have forced your way through. This is not the way,” Bikram Majithia told the vigilance team.
“I am not going anywhere. I am ready to cooperate,” he said.
In a video, Bikram Majithia lashed out at the Mann government, alleging that the AAP was resorting to such tactics to suppress the voice of the opposition leaders.
Bikram Majithia claimed that a fresh FIR has been lodged by the vigilance department on Tuesday night.
“They forcefully entered the house. If an FIR has been lodged, we are submitted to the law. If they wanted to register an FIR of DA (disproportionate assets) case, they could have given a notice and register an FIR. It is very clear that they (AAP) are rattled,” he said.
Bikram Majithia said a team of the vigilance bureau led by the Senior Superintendent of Police of the vigilance conducted the raid.
“Bhagwant Mann ji, understand this, no matter how many FIRs you register, neither I will be afraid nor your government can suppress my voice,” he said.
“I have always talked about the issues of Punjab and will continue to do so,” he added.
A Punjab police special investigation team (SIT) is probing a 2021 drug case against Mr Majithia.
The Akali leader had been summoned and questioned many times with regard to the drug case.
In March this year, the SIT had claimed that it had discovered “suspicious financial transactions” in firms linked to Bikram Majithia and his family.
The SIT probing the drug case against Bikram Majithia had expanded its investigation to scrutinise financial transactions abroad, it had then said.
Mr Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, 2021, when the then chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government was in power.
The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.
The FIR was registered by the state Crime Branch at its Mohali police station. Bikram 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.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
