Amritsar: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia
PTI
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed former minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia to appear before special investigation team (SIT), probing a drugs case against him.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Aravind Kumar ordered Majithia to appear before SIT at around 11 am on March 17.
The order came after the Punjab government said Majithia was refusing to cooperate in the probe.
Majithia said he was being harassed for political reasons and asked the court to fix dates for the interrogation.
Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh said cooperating in the investigation was an essential condition for bail and Majithia had to comply with it.
"We direct the respondent (Majithia) to appear on March 17 before SIT Patiala at 11 am. If further investigation is required, respondent would appear the next date at the same time and cooperate," the court ordered.
The top court was acting on the Punjab government's plea against the Punjab and Haryana High Court order of bail to Majithia on August 10, 2022.
The high court noted "reasonable grounds" to believe he was not guilty but limited its observation only to the adjudication of the bail plea.
The trial court should proceed independently, it added.
Majithia walked out after spending over five months in the Patiala Jail in the case.
He is the brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Majithia was booked on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug special task force (STF) looking into a drug racket in the state.
The report stemmed from the confessional statements of the accused, including Jagjit Singh Chahal, Jagdish Singh Bhola and Maninder Singh Aulakh, to the Enforcement Directorate.