Punjab and Haryana HC grants interim anticipatory bail to Bikram Singh Majithia; orders him to join probe

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 10

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday granted interim anticipatory bail to Bikram Singh Majithia in a drug case. Justice Lisa Gill made it clear that the senior Akali leader would join investigations in the case. 

An MLA and former minister in the Akali government, Majithia was apprehending arrest after a case under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered at Mohali on December 20.

He moved the high court after a Mohali court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition. Majithia was represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and RS Cheema with counsel DS Sobti and Arshdeep Singh Cheema.

Appearing on his behalf, the senior counsel “vehemently” argued there was inexplicable delay in lodging the FIR. Besides this, the FIR itself could not have been lodged as it was incumbent upon the authorities to firstly seek the competent Court’s permission before proceeding against him if any material had indeed surfaced against him.

The senior counsel also referred to orders passed by a Division Bench during the hearing of a writ petition on the drugs issue to submit that the matter was being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate, a Special Task Force and a committee constituted under orders of the Court. But no action was taken against the petitioner for all these “long” years.

The Bench was also told that the registration of the present FIR was vitiated by political and ulterior motives. The petitioner had no criminal record. He was a “mainstream politician” and undertook to join the investigation, fully cooperate with the investigating agency and abide by any conditions imposed by the Court. The notice of motion issued by the Bench was accepted by senior Deputy Advocate-General Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala on behalf of the respondent-State.