SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, party leaders detained in Mohali

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and other Akali leaders were on Wednesday detained in Mohali, where they had come to express solidarity with party leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

Arrested in a disproportionate assets case, Majithia was produced before a court in Mohali after his seven-day vigilance remand ended on Wednesday. Heavy police deployment was made outside the Vigilance Bureau (VB) office and the district court complex in Mohali.

Badal, along with party leaders Sikander Singh Maluka and Parambans Singh Bunty Romana, was detained near the Amb Sahib gurdwara.

When Badal and the other leaders tried to walk towards the gurdwara, police stopped them. Later, police detained Badal and other SAD leaders and took them to a police station.

In a video, the former deputy chief minister could be heard asking a police official to let him go as he wanted to pay obeisance at the gurdwara.

He said, "Are they (AAP government) so scared of Akali workers? I am going to pay obeisance at the gurdwara." Speaking to reporters, Badal accused the AAP government of "murdering" the democratic rights of people.

"They cannot scare us. Every single Akali worker will stand firm against the AAP government's oppression and fight back. (Chief Minister) Bhagwant Mann's frustration has proven that he is rattled by the soaring spirits of Shiromani Akali Dal workers," he said.

Badal earlier claimed in a post on X that several Akali workers headed to Mohali to express solidarity with Majithia were detained by police.

According to the SAD, many party workers in Amritsar, Beas, Patiala and other places were "detained" at their residences.

"Bhagwant Mann has imposed an UNDECLARED EMERGENCY in Punjab. Akali workers proceeding to Mohali today for expressing solidarity with S Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been framed in a false case by the Aam Aadmi Party govt, are being detained at their houses & even being stopped at 'nakas' put up on all major roads.

"Such repressive acts smack of cowardice. It is clear that chief minister @BhagwantMann is rattled by the outpouring of support for Bikram," Badal said.

"I want to make it clear - the @Akali_Dal_ & its workers will not be deterred by such repressive acts. In the past also Akalis have countered repression with peoples' movements. Now also we will teach a befitting lesson to the corrupt and dictatorial @AamAadmiParty regime with the support of Punjabis," he said.

The VB arrested Majithia on June 25 for his alleged involvement in laundering over Rs 540 crore of "drug money". He was sent to seven-day vigilance remand on June 26 by a Mohali court.

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

The FIR against Majithia stems from an investigation being conducted by a Punjab Police Special Investigation Team into the 2021 drugs 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 in the case. He walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.