Former Punjab minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia failed to get any relief from the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday as he faced setbacks in two separate cases, one related to disproportionate assets and another concerning a land dispute in Amritsar.
In the disproportionate assets case, the High Court heard arguments for nearly an hour on Friday, the second consecutive day of hearing, but deferred the matter to Monday. Earlier, the court had held a nearly three-hour hearing on Wednesday. Majithia, who was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on June 25 from his Amritsar residence, has remained in jail since July 6.
According to the Vigilance Bureau, Majithia’s properties and financial transactions have been traced across Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. The agency has filed over 20,000-page chargesheet, listing assets worth over Rs 700 crore allegedly disproportionate to his known income. It also includes statements from more than 200 witnesses and several of his former aides, including ex-MLA Bonny Ajnala and his former personal assistant.
The chargesheet, linked to the 2013 Enforcement Directorate probe into a Rs 6,000-crore synthetic drug racket, claims Majithia accumulated massive illegal wealth through undisclosed channels. The Bureau said its investigation spanned 15 locations across multiple states.
Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has approved Majithia’s prosecution under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act following a state cabinet recommendation made in September.
In a separate development, Majithia’s anticipatory bail plea in a land-related case was dismissed by the same court on Friday.
The case dates back to 2022. In this, a registry was stolen from registrar office. The registry belonged to Ganieve Kaur Majithia. She had purchased a land in 2012 and registry of it was stolen from revenue records. Hence, an FIR was lodged. The main issue with the registry was that the land was purchased on an undervalued rate by Ganieve Kaur Majithia.
The case, meanwhile, registered by Punjab Police is against unknown persons, and did not name Majithia directly. However, he had sought anticipatory bail, fearing arrest in connection with the matter.
The court observed that since Majithia’s name was not mentioned in the FIR, there was no merit in granting him pre-arrest bail.
Majithia has now spent over four months behind bars, where he reportedly met Dera Beas chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family members during jail visits in September. The next hearing in the disproportionate assets case is scheduled for Monday.