Ex-ED officer Niranjan records statement in case against Majithia

Former Enforcement Directorate (ED) Deputy Director Niranjan Singh on Saturday recorded his statement before the Vigilance Bureau in a disproportionate assets case lodged against SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

On Friday, former Punjab DGP Sidharth Chattopadhyaya had appeared before the bureau and shared information regarding the case.

Niranjan Singh, who had led the ED probe in the money laundering and NDPS Act cases against Majithia from 2013 to 2017, told mediapersons that the bureau had sought his services “to help them out with the details in the case”.

“I have recorded my statement in the case. It is the same set of statements which were recorded by the ED earlier. The bureau will be seeking the copies from the ED office, which I will attest later,” he said.

Niranjan Singh reiterated the SAD leader’s involvement in the NDPS Act and money-laundering cases.

“Majithia’s name figured in statements of (drug lord) Jagdish Bhola, Bittoo Aulakh and others. Bhola and Bittoo have been convicted by the court. On my probe, 17 people have been convicted, while chargesheets have been filed against 68 firms or people. Their ill-gotten property has been attached,” he said.

“The grounds of this case against Majithia are the same. The statements and documents are the same and linked in one way or the other. The VB has gone a step ahead with a Prevention of Corruption Act case,” he added.

The former ED officer alleged that in October 2018, he was transferred and “harassed”. “Till I was in service in 2021, I was not allowed to investigate against many. The investigation against many, including Majithia, remained pending,” he said.

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia was sent to seven-day Vigilance Bureau custody by a Mohali court on Thursday. He was arrested from his home in Amritsar on Wednesday. Apart from amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income, he has been accused of laundering Rs 540 crore of “drug money”.

DDR against Akali leader

Amritsar: A day after an official spokesperson of the Punjab Government said that a separate FIR might be registered against Majithia for obstructing government servants from doing their duty and allegedly inciting violence against the police, the city police lodged a daily diary report (DDR) against him and his supporters.

The DDR was registered at the Civil Lines police station. It will be converted into the FIR if charges are proved right following the preliminary probe.

Though the police and the Vigilance officials were tight-lipped over the development, a senior police official confirmed it.

“Akali workers gathered outside Majithia’s residence at his behest during the Vigilance raid in connection with the disproportionate assets case on Wednesday, scuffled with Vigilance sleuths and cops on law and order duty, thereby obstructing them from discharging their job,” said the official.