Punjab Police seek to dismiss Bikram Majithia’s bail plea, say ‘more info needed’

Majithia, who is currently lodged in the Central Jail at Patiala, had filed a bail application before the high court. The former Punjab minister was booked on December 20, 2021, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at the state crime branch in Mohali.

The state police filed its reply through an affidavit submitted by SIT head DIG Rahul S before the bench of Justices Augustine George Masih and Sandeep Moudgil. The matter has been scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.

In the affidavit, it has been stated that during the investigation, the witnesses examined and documents collected establish the petitioner’s (Majithia) close association with the co-accused Canadian citizen of Indian origin Satpreet Singh alias Satta, during his visits and stay in India between 2007 and 2012.

Witnesses have given statements about Satta and the other co-accused Parminder Singh alias Pindi soliciting controlled substances in December 2009 from Jagjit Singh Chahal who had pharmaceutical manufacturing units at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh during that period and had since been convicted under sections 22 (illegal import/export of narcotics) and 25-A (consumption of narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) of the NDPS Act, besides sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code in FIR 56/2013 of Banur police station in Patiala.

The affidavit submits that the witnesses have stated that the petitioner provided vehicle and security to Satta when the fugitive co-accused had stayed at the residences of the petitioner in Amritsar and Chandigarh, while frequently travelling together and attending various official and private functions within and beyond Punjab.

Also, a witness examined in FIR no. 2 dated December 20, 2021 of the state crime police station in Mohali has mentioned that fugitive accused Pindi revealed to him, in the presence of Satta, that they were supplying chemicals used in medicines to Canada and that Majithia was their partner in that.

The reply also mentioned that fugitive co-accused Pindi had been chargesheeted under sections 21, 22, 25-A and 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 in FIR no 241/2013 of Sadar police station, Patiala, for trafficking narcotic substances outside India and extradition proposal against him is pending with the Department of Justice, Canada.

“Many of the witnesses examined hitherto have expressed serious concerns regarding their security, as the petitioner is a very influential politician and as such may use his influence to threaten and intimidate the witnesses from deposing against him while also trying to destroy the evidence in the present case FIR. In this regard, FIR no. 2 dated January 4, 2022 has been registered at PS Majithia, Amritsar Rural district under section 201, 380 and 1208 of IPC, based on the complaint of the registry clerk at the sub-registrar office, Majithia regarding the disappearance of records regarding purchase of 32 kanal 10 marla land, in the name of the wife of the petitioner, during March 2012,” the affidavit mentioned.

“The investigation… is progressing and the collection of evidence from the relevant period of transactions, more than a decade ago, is underway. More information is required to be collected from within and beyond India to ascertain the backward and forward linkages, including financial transactions of the fugitive accused persons, closely associated with the petitioner,” it submitted.

Earlier in February, when Majithia’s bail plea was dismissed by a Mohali court, he had moved the Supreme Court seeking to quash the FIR against him. The apex court, on May 11, refused to entertain his plea and asked him to instead approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court.