Bikram Majithia held without initial probe: Shiromani Akali Dal

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday accused the AAP government of violating the law by registering a disproportionate assets case against its senior leader Bikram Singh Majithia “without holding a preliminary or regular probe”.

The Opposition party also termed Majithia’s arrest a case of “political vendetta” to divert people’s attention from the failure of the state-wide anti-drugs campaign launched by the government in March this year.

Addressing a press conference here, senior SAD leaders Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Daljit Singh Cheema accused the government of misleading people by alleging that Majithia laundered Rs 540 crore of drug money.

“This is not only absurd but a bundle of lies for which AAP leaders will be held accountable,” Grewal said.

He said the government should explain as to why it “had not released a single complaint with regard to the Rs 540-crore figure”.

Grewal said the public prosecutor told the court that only a disproportionate assets case had been registered against Majithia, contrary to the money laundering claim.

“Even this is fabricated. The properties mentioned in the complaint were held by the Majithia even before he was born. The Majithias are an old landlord family. Bikram Majithia’s grandfather owned planes and even a Rolls Royce car,” he said.

He said earlier Majithia had been granted bail by the High Court in a drug case registered against him by the previous Congress government after it found that there was no recovery of drug money.

Cheema said the allegations mentioned in the new case against Majithia had been submitted to the Supreme Court recently while seeking to cancel the bail given to the Akali leader in the drug case.

“The Supreme Court did not take cognisance of the allegations and now these have been recycled and turned into a new case,” Cheema alleged.

Bhunder called the action against Majithia the “murder of democracy”.

He said the AAP government had been trying to implicate Majithia in a false case. He also thanked Opposition parties for expressing solidarity with Majithia.