Mohali court stops Vigilance Bureau from searching Majithia’s premises

Hours after the Vigilance Bureau teams landed at SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s houses in Amritsar, Majitha and Delhi, a Mohali court stopped the bureau from conducting searches at his premises. It also ordered that details of the proceedings conducted by the investigating teams be submitted in the court at the earliest.

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The court also directed that the evaluation work be done afresh in the presence of Majithia’s counsel Arshdeep Singh Kler in compliance with the warrants issued by the court. The agency was directed to inform the party 24 hours in advance before visiting its premises for evaluation purposes.

Majithia’s counsel had moved an application seeking the recall of search warrants issued by the Mohali court on July 14, claiming that these were not executed in letter and spirit.

The counsel also submitted that the search process had already been completed and the list of articles taken into possession during the search had already been submitted in the court and now only the evaluation of those articles was to be done. The special public prosecutor maintained that only the articles and properties mentioned in the application were being evaluated.

“We are complying with the order of this court and shall evaluate the articles mentioned in the search memos submitted in the court, along with the land, building, fittings and fixtures,” he said.

The court directed the VB that the “evaluation work be done afresh in the presence of advocate Arshdeep Singh. However, he will not interfere in the evaluation process. If the investigating agency goes beyond the undertaking given by it, the advocate will inform the court via an affidavit”.

The court then adjourned the matter to July 22.

Meanwhile, Vigilance Bureau teams on Tuesday once again raided the residence and office of Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar’s Green Avenue area.

During the fresh raids, Vigilance officials carried out detailed measurements of the entire office building and inspected every section.

Documents stored at the office were also examined. Local officials assisted the teams during the inspection.

In view of the raids, the Punjab Police had tightened security around the area. Heavy police deployment was made near Majithia’s Green Avenue house, where the road was barricaded several metres before the residence, stopping public movement beyond that point.