Bikram Majithia booked for drug smuggling, aiding mafia; FIR cites '18 STF report

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 21

Ahead of the Punjab Assembly poll, the state police late on Monday night booked former Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia for alleged drug smuggling. A case under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered on the basis of a 2018 report of a special task force (STF) probe into the drug racket.

Akali leader under scanner since 2014

‘Had links with international dealers for 10 yrs’

• FIR lodged by Crime Branch in Mohali under Sections 25, 27(a) and 29 of the NDPS Act
• It states Bikram Majithia was in touch with international drug smugglers between January 2004 and December 2014
• They include Satpreet Singh (Satta), Maninder Singh Aulakh (Bittu Aulakh), Parminder Singh (Pindi), Amrinder Singh (Laddi) and Jagjit Singh Chahal
• It claims the leader allowed drug smuggling through use of his property or conveyance and financed distribution or sale of drugs and hatched conspiracy

Name first came up in Ex-DSP Bhola case

• Jan 7, 2014: Ex-DSP Jagdish Bhola, arrested in synthetic drugs case, claims Majithia involved too
• Dec 26: ED quizzes Majithia on financial ‘dealings with smugglers’ in the Rs6,000-cr synthetic drug racket; no case registered
• March 2017: Capt Amarinder sets up anti-drug STF to probe nexus between cops, politicians, smugglers
• Feb 2018: STF files status report on drugs with the Punjab and Haryana High Court
• Nov-Dec 2021: Majithia alleges he may be falsely implicated
• Dec 20: Crime Branch books him under provisions of NDPS Act

Previous govts didn’t act

It is a slap on the face of all powerful leaders who slept for years on issues at the heart of Punjab’s soul. Navjot Singh Sidhu, PPCC Chief

Vendetta politics, cry Akalis

Govt changed 3 DGPs to register a case. Any govt that indulges in vendetta will face consequences. Parkash Singh Badal, SAD Patron

Ex-minister incommunicado, DGP likely to form sit

Nearly 24 hours after he was booked, Majithia’s whereabouts remained a mystery. He was incommunicado. “He is preparing his legal defence against the false case,” said Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD spokesperson. Sources said the DGP might constitute an SIT to take the case further.

The probe report was filed by anti-drug STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2018.

The 49-page FIR, lodged at Punjab State Crime Branch Police Station, Mohali, states that Majithia has been booked under Sections 25, 27(a) and 29 (NDPS Act) for allegedly allowing drug smuggling through the use of his property or conveyance, financing the distribution or sale of drugs and hatching a criminal conspiracy for smuggling.

While Majithia was not available for a comment, SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal termed the development as “the worst example of political vendetta”. “We have been airing our fears about acts of vendetta against us. The Akalis are used to fighting such false cases,” he told reporters in Muktsar.

Party leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra, Daljit Cheema and Maheshinder Grewal said the case was registered by the Congress government out of frustration “as it failed to implicate Akali leaders in sacrilege cases”. Though the police did not issue any statement, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu took to Twitter to announce the registration of the case.

He wrote, “An FIR has been registered with Punjab Police Crime Branch against the main culprits of drug trade on the basis of the 2018 STF report, wherein I demanded this 4 years ago. It is a slap on the face of all powerful leaders who slept for years on issues at the heart of Punjab's soul.”

“Five years of fight against the corrupt system run by the Badal family and Captain, and delay of four years after ED and STF filed report against Majithia. Finally, after pushing for credible officers in positions of power, the first step has been taken,” he tweeted.In another tweet, the PPCC chief said, “Justice will not be served till main culprits behind the drug mafia are given exemplary punishment. We will fight till punishment is given which acts as deterrent for generations. We must choose the honest and righteous and shun drug traffickers and their protectors.”

Sidhu's tweets followed a night full of suspense over the FIR. The Tribune was the first to report that the government had finalised its probe into the alleged drugs case involving the former minister.