Punjab: SAD leader Bikram Majithia appears before SIT in drugs case

Chandigarh, Dec 18 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia appeared before a special investigation team of the Punjab Police in Patiala district for questioning in a drugs case on Monday.

Tight security arrangements were made around the SIT office as Majithia reached there along with his counsels around 11:45 am. The SIT is led by Additional Director General of Police (Patiala range) Mukhwinder Singh Chhina.

Before reaching the SIT office, Majithia said he is a law-abiding citizen and has complete trust in law.

The SAD leader accused the AAP government of playing politics over the drugs issue and claimed that he was summoned by the SIT because he was speaking against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. He also alleged that Mann was using the state machinery against him.

"It is only politics and it has become the habit of Bhagwant Mann to play politics. They have been sleeping for two years. It's my request, if you have any proof then present it in court," Majithia said, slamming the chief minister.

"My fight is against the state machinery and against the state government which lodges an FIR against anyone who utters a word against it," he told reporters in Patiala.

Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, 2021, during the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government. The action was taken based on a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force. The FIR was registered by the state Crime Branch at its Mohali police station.

In August last year, Majithia came out of the Patiala jail after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail in the drugs case. He was released after spending more than five months in prison. PTI