SC grants bail to SAD leader Bikram Majithia in disproportionate assets case

During the hearing before the top court, Majithias counsel argued that petitioner was earlier granted bail in a case registered under the NDPS Act. He said the top court had dismissed the Punjab governments plea challenging the bail granted to him.

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing Majithia's plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's December 4 last year order which denied him bail in the case. The top court noted that Majithia was earlier granted bail in a separate case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. It also noted that he is in custody in connection with the disproportionate assets case for the last seven months. ''Why do you want to keep him inside jail?'' the bench asked the counsel appearing for the state. Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the state, argued that allegations are serious and the disproportionate assets come to around Rs 790 crore. He argued that officers who are involved in the probe were being threatened. Senior advocate S Muralidhar, appearing for Majithia, referred to the case lodged under the NDPS Act. ''This is political vendetta,'' he said, adding there was no prospect of trial concluding anytime soon in the disproportionate assets case as there were 295 witnesses. While granting bail to Majithia, the bench said it would be open for the prosecution to impress upon the trial court to impose stringent bail conditions on him. In its December 4 order, the high court dismissed Majithia's bail plea, observing that the possibility of him influencing the investigation could not be ruled out. While directing the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to complete its probe within three months, the high court had said Majithia can thereafter seek his release on bail. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested Majithia on June 25 last year in the disproportionate assets case that allegedly involved accumulation of Rs 540 crore of wealth. The FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing probe being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team into a 2021 drug case. During the hearing before the top court, Majithia's counsel argued that petitioner was earlier granted bail in a case registered under the NDPS Act. He said the top court had dismissed the Punjab government's plea challenging the bail granted to him. In its order, the high court had noted that Majithia is one of the prominent political figures in Punjab and had been a cabinet minister for over seven years. It had said the investigating agency has cited about 20 material witnesses, who were termed vulnerable. Before the high court, the counsel appearing for Majithia had argued that lodging of the FIR in the case was illegal and it was registered in violation of the settled procedure to keep him behind the bars. Majithia's counsel had contended that companies or entities mentioned in the FIR were thoroughly probed by the state in the NDPS Act case as well. The counsel for the state had contended before the high court that there was substantial evidence against Majithia establishing his own enrichment and also that of his family-run companies, apart from acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The Vigilance Bureau filed an over 40,000-page chargesheet in the disproportionate assets case in the Mohali court on August 22 last year. The SAD leader has termed the disproportionate assets case against him ''political witch-hunting and vendetta'', a fallout of his being a vocal critic of the current AAP dispensation. In 2021, Majithia was booked under the NDPS Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.

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