Bikram S Majithia's life is not safe in jail, can be eliminated or...: SAD leader Harsimrat Badal

Chandigarh: Bikram S Majithia's life is not safe in jail, sister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Badal has told the media, adding that they had met the Governor of Punjab, urging him to remove Harpreet Sidhu, ADGP, Prisons. "We met Governor of Punjab and urged him to remove Harpreet Sidhu ADGP, Prisons. My brother Bikram S Majithia's life is not safe in jail with him as ADGP, Prisons. He had been given this post to allow him to settle his personal scores with Majithia," said SAD leader Harsimrat K Badal. She added, "There is a danger of Bikram being eliminated or being entangled in another false case by planting something on his person."

A Shiromani Akali Dal delegation on Wednesday (June 8) met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit urging him to direct the AAP government to remove IPS officer Harpreet Sidhu as the in-charge of Prisons citing a grave threat to jailed former minister Majithia. The meet comes a day after the SAD wrote to the chief minister claiming that there was every chance that Sidhu, the Punjab Additional Director General of Police who also holds the additional charge of Prisons, might either "eliminate" Majithia or "implicate him in a false" case as the two families nurture a rivalry. The delegation comprised former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Manpreet Ayali, and Bikram Majithia's wife and MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia.

They alleged that just like the previous Congress government, the incumbent AAP regime too was "playing into the hands of Harpreet Sidhu". Ganieve Majithia, an MLA from Majitha seat, said that the family feared that Sidhu would register yet another FIR against her husband and requested the Governor to intervene in the matter.

Majithia is lodged in Patiala jail in connection with a drug case. He was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act last year on the basis of a 2018 report of a probe into a drug racket in the state. This report was filed by Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. "The police officer, who failed as head of the Special Task Force on Drugs with the drug menace increasing manifold under his watch, had been given the additional charge of State Prisons solely to allow him to settle his personal scores with Bikram Majithia," the delegation added. They further said, "This benefits AAP politically because the top AAP leadership including its Convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal carry a personal grouse against Bikram Majithia for having to apologize to the latter for levelling false drug trade-related allegations against him."

Earlier the SAD delegation had informed, "Sidhu holds a severe animosity towards the Majithia family, and he should not be allowed to function as a super DGP." The delegation further said, "the police officer was not only the head of the STF but was also instrumental in the formation of SIT to probe the allegations against Majithia besides exercising control over it." It then alleged that Sidhu being given the additional charge of the Jails department will allow him to cook up further false evidence against Majithia.

Harsimrat Badal also detailed how Sidhu held a severe animosity towards the Majithia family and said that there had been bad blood between the families for generations with Sidhu's family blaming Majithias for the death of their aunt. She said despite this background, Sidhu withheld a strained relationship from the high court before he embarked on conducting an inquiry on the alleged role of Majithia in a drug case. She also disclosed how the AAP government had changed three ADGPs and three jail superintendents (of the Patiala central jail) solely to strike out at Majithia. The SAD delegation also highlighted Majithia being subjected to inhumane treatment in the jail.It urged the Jails Minister, during a visit, that the former minister be shifted to a 'chakki' as the current one is unsafe and unfit for human habitation. They mentioned that the cell was 8x8 feet. "The sole purpose of shifting Majithia into the said cell is to humiliate him and violate his human rights", the leaders added.