Chandigarh, 8 July

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday deferred till 29 July hearing on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia's plea against his arrest and subsequent remand in a disproportionate assets case.

As the matter came up for hearing, Majithia's counsels sought three weeks to file an amended plea following which the court granted time and fixed the next date of hearing.

Majithia had earlier filed a plea against his arrest and subsequent remand in the disproportionate assets case registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB).

The state government's counsel Ferry Sofat said Majithia's advocates sought three weeks time to file an amended petition.

The Punjab VB on 25 June arrested Majithia in the DA case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of "drug money".

Majithia on 1 July moved the HC against the DA case, calling it "political witch-hunting and vendetta" for being a vocal critic of the current dispensation.

The former minister was sent to judicial custody by a Mohali court on 6 July.

Majithia was initially sent to a seven-day vigilance remand by the Mohali court on 26 June. The court then extended Majithia's remand by four days more on 2 July after his seven-day remand ended.

In his petition, Majithia sought appropriate relief against "illegal" arrest and subsequent remand granted in the FIR registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

"The said FIR is a result of political witch-hunting and vendetta, initiated by the present political dispensation with the sole object of maligning and harassing the petitioner who has been a vocal critic and political opponent," the petition submitted.

The petitioner submitted that the FIR registered against him is "patently illegal" while his arrest was carried out in "gross violation of settled legal procedures".

The present petition, therefore, raises important questions of law and principle concerning abuse of criminal process, misuse of remand powers, and the right to fair investigation and liberty, it stated.

Majithia prayed for appropriate reliefs, including quashing of the illegal remand order and appropriate directions to prevent further "abuse" of process.

In the fresh FIR registered against Majithia, the VB claimed that preliminary investigations revealed that more than Rs 540 crore of "drug money" has been laundered through several ways and it was allegedly facilitated by Majithia.

This FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing investigation being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team into the 2021 drug case.

In 2021, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The action was taken 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.