Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia was on Wednesday questioned for more than two hours by a Special Investigation Team probing a drugs case registered against him.
Mr. Majithia, who was granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court two days ago, appeared before the SIT at the State Crime Branch office at 11 a.m.
‘Full cooperation’
Talking to reporters after appearing before the SIT, he said he assured the investigating officers of his full cooperation in the case.
Mr. Majithia said he asked the officers to take note of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s statement on the appointment of Siddharth Chattopadhyaya to the post of Director General of Police and also the comments of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa against him.
The Akali leader again raised the issue of an alleged conspiracy hatched against him by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Mr. Randhawa.
Mr. Majithia’s counsel Damanbir Singh Sobti said the former State Minister was ready to assist in every possible investigation. “He joined the probe today,” said Mr. Sobti.
The High Court on Monday had directed the SAD leader to join the investigation on Wednesday at 11 a.m., while granting him anticipatory bail in the matter. Mr. Majithia was asked to not leave the country till the next date of hearing and was also requested to share with the investigating agency his live location through WhatsApp.
‘Political vendetta’
Mr. Majithia, who was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act last month, had moved the HC seeking anticipatory bail after a Mohali court dismissed his pre-arrest bail plea on December 24.
Mr. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Sukhbir Badal and the brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Mr. Majithia, who made his first public appearance on Tuesday after registration of the case against him, had accused Mr. Channi and Mr. Randhawa of hatching a conspiracy against him. He had also dubbed the registration of the case against him a ‘political vendetta’.
He was booked on December 20 last year under the NDPS Act on the basis of a 2018 report of a probe into a drugs racket operating in the State. The report was filed by the Anti-Drug Special Task Force (STF) chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2018.
The 49-page FIR in the matter was registered by the State Crime Branch at its Mohali police station.
