FIR registered against SAD MLA Bikram Majithia in drugs case under NDPS Act

NEW DELHI: An FIR has been registered against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in connection with an old drug case. He is likely to be formally arrested soon, sources said.

According to sources, the Punjab Bureau of Investigation has registered the FIR against Majithia at SAS Nagar Police Station in a drugs case under Section 25/27A/29 of the NDPS Act on the basis of a report submitted by the Special Task Force.

IGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu-led Special Task Force, set up by former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to catch the “big fish” in drug trade, said that Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia had a “role in facilitating supply of a drug pseudoephedrine to two Canadian NRIs Satpreet Singh alias Satta and Parminder Singh alias Pindi” in the infamous 2013 Jagdish Bhola drug scandal.

Jagdish Bhola, the drug lord who was arrested by Punjab Police in the synthetic drug case, had named Bikram Majithia as the kingpin of the drug trade in Punjab. 

The then Parkash Singh Badal government had shifted the SSP Fatehgarh Sahib SSP Hardayal Singh who had obtained confession against Majithia. Fatehgarh Sahib police had arrested a Canada based NRI Anoop Singh, who had named Jagdish Bhola as an accomplice. Bhola is a dismissed DSP of Punjab Police.

All political parties including Congress, BJP and AAP had been demanding the arrest of Majithia in the drug case. He was also named as an accused in the Rs 6000 crore synthetic drug hawala case investigated by Enforcement Directorate. 

Majithia was questioned by ED on December 26, 2014, but the case was hushed up due to political pressure when SAD was in political alliance with BJP. 

ED Deputy Director Niranjan Singh who was investigating the drug case against Majithia was transferred but later High Court had stayed his transfer. Senior Counsel Anupam Gupta had then informed the High Court that Niranjan Singh is under pressure since the name of Bikram Singh Majithia has surfaced in the case. 

He even alleged that senior ED officials were threatening Niranjan Singh. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the newly-appointed PPCC president, has been putting pressure on the Punjab Government for the arrest of Majithia who is named in the report prepared by STF on drugs. 

CM Charanjit Singh Channi, who was initially hesitant to move against Majithia, had on December 18 changed the DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota and appointed S Chatopadhya in his place.