Punjab: Mohali court extends SAD leader Majithia's judicial custody till Sep 6

Chandigarh, Aug 28 (PTI) A Mohali court on Thursday extended till September 6 the judicial custody of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was arrested in a disproportionate assets case.

Majithia was produced before the court through video conferencing.

Public prosecutor Ferry Sofat said Majithia's judicial custody has been extended till September 6.

The Akali Dal leader was sent to judicial custody on July 6. His judicial remand was extended on July 19 and then on August 2 and August 14.

Majithia is lodged in the New Nabha jail in Patiala.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing on his plea for a change of barrack to August 30.

On August 22, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau filed a charge sheet, which runs into over 40,000 pages, in a Mohali court in the disproportionate assets case.

The bureau had arrested Majithia on June 25 in the disproportionate assets case allegedly involving the laundering of Rs 540 crore of "drug money".

In the FIR registered against Majithia, the bureau claimed that preliminary investigations revealed that more than Rs 540 crore of "drug money" had been laundered 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. PTI CHS RHL