Akali Dal leader Majithia appears before Punjab SIT in drugs case

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday appeared before a special investigation team of the Punjab Police in Patiala district in a drugs case.

The former minister was summoned by the SIT led by Deputy Inspector General (Patiala range) Harcharan Singh Bhullar.

Tight security arrangements were made around the police lines in Patiala ahead of the appearance of Majithia before the SIT.

Several Akali workers had gathered at the spot to express solidarity with Majithia.

Majithia was previously questioned by the SIT, led by the then additional director general of police Mukhwinder Singh Chhina, on December 30, 2023 in connection with the drugs case. Before that he was grilled by the SIT on December 18.

The Punjab Police formed a new SIT under the chairmanship of Bhullar after Chhina retired on December 31.

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.

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.