Chandigarh, November 1: Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has approved the prosecution of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case, paving the way for criminal proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Officials at the Punjab Raj Bhavan confirmed that the sanction was granted under Section 19 of the Act after the state cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, recommended action based on findings from the Vigilance Bureau (VB) and legal opinion from the advocate general’s office.
Majithia, a three-time legislator from Majitha and former revenue minister, was arrested by the VB on June 25 from his Amritsar residence. The arrest followed raids at more than 25 locations, during which investigators seized digital evidence, property records and financial documents.
According to the Vigilance Bureau, Majithia amassed assets worth over ₹700 crore — allegedly 1,200% higher than his declared income — through laundering of ₹540 crore linked to a 2013 drug trafficking network.
Following his arrest, a Mohali court sent the SAD leader to seven days’ police custody before remanding him to judicial custody on July 6. The bureau subsequently filed a 40,000-page chargesheet in the Mohali sessions court on August 22.
The disproportionate assets probe stems from a 2021 case under the NDPS Act, based on a 2018 Anti-Drug Task Force report that had accused Majithia of aiding traffickers. He spent over five months in Patiala jail before being granted bail in August 2022.
Majithia has dismissed the corruption and laundering charges as politically motivated. “This is nothing but a continuation of political vendetta,” he has maintained in earlier statements.
His regular bail plea was turned down in August, though the Punjab and Haryana High Court later granted him interim relief in September. The trial in the Mohali sessions court is now expected to move forward following the governor’s approval.
