New Delhi, Dec 20: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on a petition filed by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s refusal to grant him bail in a disproportionate assets case.
A Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath declined to consider Majithia’s plea for interim bail and sought a response from the Vigilance Bureau on his challenge to the high court’s Dec. 4 order. The matter has been listed for hearing on Jan. 19.
The high court had dismissed Majithia’s bail plea, observing that the possibility of him influencing the investigation could not be ruled out. While directing the Vigilance Bureau to complete the probe within three months, the court had said Majithia would be at liberty to seek bail thereafter.
Majithia was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on June 25 in a disproportionate assets case alleging the accumulation of assets worth about Rs 540 crore. The FIR stemmed from a report submitted in June 2025 by a Punjab Police special investigation team probing a 2021 drug case.
Currently lodged in New Nabha Jail in Patiala, Majithia had earlier been denied bail by a Mohali court in August. The Vigilance Bureau filed a chargesheet exceeding 40,000 pages in the Mohali court on Aug. 22.
Appearing for Majithia, senior advocate S. Muralidhar told the Supreme Court that his client had earlier been granted bail in a case registered under the NDPS Act and that the court had dismissed the Punjab government’s challenge to that bail.
“In the NDPS case, a supplementary affidavit was filed before this court claiming evidence of financial transactions. The same transactions are now being used to register a fresh case under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” Muralidhar said.
In denying bail, the high court had noted that Majithia was a prominent political figure and a former Cabinet minister. “The investigating agency has cited about 20 material witnesses who have been termed vulnerable,” the court had said.
Majithia has described the case as a “political witch-hunt and vendetta,” alleging it to be a consequence of his criticism of the current state government.
