MOHALI, 2 July —Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal and several party workers were taken into preventive custody by Punjab Police on Wednesday as they attempted to march towards the district court complex in Mohali to express solidarity with senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is facing allegations in a disproportionate assets and money laundering case.
Badal was detained from Gurdwara Amb Sahib in Mohali amid a heavy police presence deployed outside both the Vigilance Bureau (VB) office and the Mohali court complex, where Majithia is to be produced following the conclusion of his seven-day vigilance remand.
Reacting strongly to the police action, Badal accused the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of stifling democratic rights. “Bhagwant Mann has imposed an undeclared emergency in Punjab,” Badal posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Akali workers proceeding to Mohali today for expressing solidarity with Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been framed in a false case by the Aam Aadmi Party government, are being detained at their houses and even being stopped at nakas (checkpoints) on all major roads. Such repressive acts smack of cowardice.”
Badal further asserted, “The Akali Dal and its workers will not be deterred by such repressive acts. In the past too, the Akalis have countered repression with people’s movements. We will once again teach a befitting lesson to the corrupt and dictatorial Aam Aadmi Party regime with the support of Punjabis.”
According to the SAD, several party workers from Amritsar, Beas and other towns across Punjab were either detained or restricted from travelling to Mohali.
Majithia, a senior SAD leader and former minister, was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau on June 25 on charges of laundering more than ₹540 crore allegedly linked to drug money. The FIR against him stems from an ongoing investigation by a Punjab Police Special Investigation Team probing a 2021 drugs case. The vigilance remand was granted on June 26 by a Mohali court.
According to the VB, preliminary findings suggest the money was routed through various channels and allegedly facilitated by Majithia. The 2021 FIR is based on a 2018 report by the state’s anti-drug Special Task Force. Majithia was earlier booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and had spent over five months in Patiala jail before securing bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2022.
As tensions remain high, the heavy security deployment in Mohali and sweeping detentions across Punjab point to a deepening political standoff between the ruling AAP and the opposition SAD over the controversial arrest.
