High Court grants bail to Akali leader Majithia in drugs case
Darpan News Desk IANS, 10 Aug, 2022 10:16 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 10 (IANS) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted bail to senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was in jail over for over five months for his alleged involvement in a drugs case registered in December 2021.
A division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Sureshwar Thakur had reserved the order on the bail plea on July 29.
Majithia, a former minister lodged in the Central Jail in Patiala, had moved the High Court for the regular bail in the case registered under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
In his petition, Majithia said the then Congress government in the state did not leave any stone unturned to misuse its power and position for wreaking vengeance against its political opponents and the petitioner was once such target.
In an order, the High Court observed that there is no material placed on record showing possession, transportation, storing by or recovery of any contraband from the petitioner. "All recoveries in the concluded trials had been effected from specific individuals and the petitioner was not shown therein to have any role in that regard," it observed.
"We are satisfied that reasonable grounds exist to believe that the petitioner is not guilty of the offences alleged against him in the FIR and he is not likely to commit such offences while on bail," said the judges.
"It will take time for the trial to start and culminate. So no fruitful purpose is going to be served even if the petitioner is kept in judicial custody for a further indefinite period. We are of the opinion that continued detention of the petitioner, which started on February 24, is not warranted and he is entitled to be released on bail," the Bench added.
A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies, briefed the Cabinet about the status of the ongoing procurement. It was informed that 14.9 lakh metric tons of wheat had arrived in the mandis out of which more than 12 lakh metric tons had already been purchased.
The deceased, Sarabjit Singh Brar, was a resident of Laburnum Apartments at DLF Phase 1 in Gurugram. At the time of the incident that occured on Wednesday morning, Brar was at his flat along with his wife.
Joining the issue, newly-appointed state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring targeted Mann over the Centre's interfering in the state's law and order matters in the context of the Punjab Governor's visits to the border areas.
On examination of their check-in-baggage, 43 gold cut-bits of 24k purity, weighing 2.493 kg and valued at Rs 1.20 crore, were found wrapped around laptop chargers with adhesive tapes.
The incident took place at Kusupur village in the state's Cuttack district. Accused Shiba Prasad Sahoo (42) confessed to the crime through a video message and sent it to his village sarpanch and few others. He later surrendered before Balichandrapur police in Jajpur district.
According to a source, the meeting continued for two hours around and both CMs discussed how to give free 300 units of electricity in Punjab - as promised by the party in its election campaign.
