Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday adjourned the hearing to July 8 on the petition of senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Majithia who had challenged his ``illegal arrest and subsequent remand’’ by Punjab Vigilance Bureau in a disproportionate assets (DA) case.
Asking Punjab’s reply on Majithia’s petition against his arrest, Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya’s bench deferred the hearing to July 8 without any interim relief to Majithia.
Majithia’s counsel Arshdeep Singh Kler told newspersons after the hearing, that the court asked Punjab Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi, who himself appeared in the court, to seek instructions on what is the petition and what is the petitioner’s grouse.
It may be recalled that Majithia, who was arrested in the DA case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of drug money, was sent to a seven-day VB remand by the Mohali court on June 26 and the court had on July 2 extended his remand by four days.
This fresh case stems from an ongoing investigation being conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) of Punjab police into the 2021 drug case in which he was booked under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and he spent over five months. He walked out of prison in August 2022 after the high court granted him bail.
Subsequent to the registration of the DA case, Majithia had move the HC on July 1 against the DA case stating that the case against him was a result of ``political witch-hunting and vendetta’’ initiated by ruling government with the sole object of maligning and harassing him, as he has been a vocal critic and political opponent.
Majithia also submitted the DA case registered on June 25 last by the VB was ``patently illegal’’ and his arrest the same day from his residence was carried out in ``gross violation of settled legal procedures’’.
The petitioner further held that the Supreme Court had on March 4 had refused custodial interrogation of the petitioner despite the same allegations being pressed before it via multiple affidavits by the state of Punjab.
