Punjab: Mohali court extends Majithia's custody by 4 days in DA case

Chandigarh: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday claimed of unearthing the registry of 402 hectare of undeclared land in Shimla after it took arrested SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia to Himachal Pradesh as a part of its investigation in a disproportionate assets case.

The statement was made before a Mohali court, which was dealing with the Akali minister's remand proceedings, when it extended his vigilance custody by four more days.

The prosecutor also accused Majithia, arrested in the disproportionate assets (DA) case, of not cooperating with the probe agency.

Majithia was produced before the court amid tight security after his seven-day vigilance remand ended on Wednesday.

Even the VB office witnessed beefed up security arrangements aside from the Mohali district court complex in Mohali where the former minister was produced. The media was also kept at bay.

Majithia was arrested on June 25 in the case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of "drug money".

Speaking to the mediapersons after a three-hour long hearing, public prosecutor Ferry Sofat said the court extended Majithia's remand by four more days after the Vigilance Bureau (VB) filed an application.

He will be produced again on July 6, Sofat said.

The prosecutor said many facts came up during investigation by the VB in the DA case against Majithia.

"Majithia was taken to Shimla where a registry of 402 hectares of land was found and it has not been declared in an affidavit till now," Sofat claimed.

The copy of the registry was produced before the court, he added.

Special public prosecutor Preet Inderpal Singh said during interrogation of Majithia, the VB came to know about some sales deeds of land in Mashobra in Shimla.

Majithia had shown 0.56 hectare of land in his affidavit in 2012 whereas the sales deeds pertained to 2010-11, Singh claimed.

"A huge chunk of 402 hectares of land was shown in the sales deed," he said, "which was discovered when Majithia was taken to Shimla."

Majithia was accused of non-cooperation with the officials of the VB and officers in Shimla and Majitha town in Amritsar district.

"We have told the court that some relevant records are also in Gorakhpur (in Uttar Pradesh) and we could take him there as well," he said.

On June 30, Majithia was taken to Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh for verification of property allegedly linked to his family. On July 1, he was taken to his office in Majitha in Amritsar.

Singh claimed that the investigation showed that Majithia's father had repurchased a farm house at Sainik Farm in Delhi when the Akalis returned to power in Punjab.

He claimed that the value of that farmhouse was estimated to be in hundreds of crores.

Majithia's counsel countered that he has nothing to do with his father about any property purchase dealings.

The special public prosecutor said Majithia's family had shown Sainik Farm as their address in Saraya Industries' records.

During the VB investigation, it also came to the fore that Majithia's wife Ganieve Kaur, an Akali MLA, has 25 per cent share in the Green Avenue Society in Jalandhar and for this share, crores of rupees were given, Singh said.

Advocate Arshdeep Kler, one of Majithia's counsel, claimed the VB could not produce new facts before the court.

Kler said the VB could not find anything from Himachal Pradesh, Majitha in Amritsar and Chandigarh.

Following his arrest, the court on June 26 remanded Majithia to seven days of vigilance custody.

In the fresh FIR registered against Majithia, the VB claimed preliminary investigations have revealed laundering of over Rs 540 crore of "drug money" through several ways and it was allegedly facilitated by Majithia.

This FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing investigation being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team into the 2021 drug case.

In 2021, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.

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.