SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia appears before SIT in Patiala in drugs case

The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia appeared before a Punjab Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) here on Saturday in connection with a drugs case, official sources said.

Speaking to reporters before entering the SIT office, Majithia said the case against him is "politically motivated". This was Majithia’s second appearance before the SIT this month. He had earlier appeared before the SIT on December 18 and was questioned for more than seven hours. The SIT is led by Additional Director General of Police (Patiala range) Mukhwinder Singh Chhina. Majithia said the case against him is ”politically motivated”. Majithia said the case against him is "politically motivated".

He said SIT head Chhina will be retiring from the post on Sunday and asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann not to use his officers to "target" the Akali leader. "If you have the guts, you should become the chairman of the SIT," Majithia told Mann. Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on December 20, 2021, when the then chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government was in power. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force. The FIR was registered by the state Crime Branch at its Mohali police station. Majithia spent more than five months in Patiala jail and walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.