Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia walked out of Nabha jail on Tuesday afternoon, ending 224 days of incarceration. His release came a day after the Supreme Court granted him bail in a disproportionate assets (DA) case involving the alleged laundering of ₹540 crore.
Majithia was greeted by scores of Akali supporters and leaders, including his wife and Majitha SAD MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia, amid heavy police deployment outside the prison.
The release followed a legal battle in a Mohali court, where the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) moved an eleventh-hour application seeking stringent bond conditions. In an unusual request, the state prosecution asked the court to bar Majithia from residing in Punjab, suggesting he only be allowed to enter the state for court hearings. The VB also sought to restrain the Akali leader from using social media or making public statements, arguing that his “influential status and threatening attitude” toward investigators could prejudice the trial and lead to witness tampering.
However, the Mohali court declined the state’s request for such restrictive measures. The court observed that since Majithia is a permanent resident of Punjab, a ban on his entry into the state was unjustified. It further protected his constitutional right to free speech by rejecting the proposed social media gag. Majithia’s counsel, advocate HS Dhanoa, said that the court’s decision upheld fundamental rights against “unreasonable limits” sought by the prosecution.
Majithia was originally arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau from his Amritsar residence on June 25 last year.
The case stems from a 2021 drug probe, with the VB filing a 40,000-page chargesheet on August 22 alleging that Majithia facilitated the laundering of drug money. While the state expressed apprehensions of a “parallel media trial”, the Supreme Court’s February 2 order paved the way for his release, leaving the trial court to set standard bail conditions which were finalised earlier today.
(With inputs by Aarya Kumari in Mohali)
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