Chandigarh, Jul 19 (PTI) A court in Punjab's Mohali district on Saturday extended the judicial custody of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was arrested in a disproportionate assets case, till August 2.
Majithia was produced before the court in Mohali amid tight security arrangements.
Majithia, the former minister, was on July 6 sent to judicial custody after his four-day vigilance remand ended. Earlier, he was sent to seven-day vigilance remand.
Speaking to the media after the court hearing, Public Prosecutor Ferry Sofat said the court allowed the application of extending Majithia's judicial custody.
His judicial custody has been extended till August 2, he added.
Majithia was brought from New Nabha Jail in Patiala for his appearance in the Mohali court. Ahead of the hearing, heavy police deployment was made outside the district court complex in Mohali.
Majithia's counsel Damanbir Singh Sobti claimed that the SAD leader has been kept along with two prisoners in the jail.
One of the prisoners is facing the death penalty for murdering three minors and the other one is facing charges of sodomizing a 12-year-old boy.
Sobti further said that there was an apprehension of threat to his life.
The counsel further claimed that the Vigilance Bureau went back on its claim of finding 1,000 acres of land in Himachal Pradesh.
Sobti said that SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and the party leadership were not allowed to meet Majithia in jail.
The SAD leader's wife and Akali MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia targeted the AAP government for registering a case against her husband.
When asked why she did not attend the special session of the Punjab Assembly which concluded on July 15, she lashed out at the AAP government, questioning whether they allow the opposition leaders to speak in the House and said they only indulge in mudslinging.
She said there are many burning issues in the state, but the AAP does not allow the discussion on the same.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance Bureau on Saturday conducted raids at properties allegedly linked to Majithia and his family in Delhi, Chandigarh and other locations in connection with the DA case registered against him, sources said.
The raid was conducted at Sainik Farm in Delhi, they said.
Sources said that technical teams were also present during the operation to collect evidence.
Majithia had already moved the Punjab and Haryana High court against his arrest and subsequent remand in the disproportionate assets case. The hearing in this regard will be held on July 29.
Majithia in his petition sought appropriate relief against "illegal" arrest and subsequent remand granted in the FIR registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
He had also filed an application for regular bail with the Mohali court and request for a change in jail barrack. The hearing will take place on July 22.
The Vigilance Bureau had arrested Majithia on June 25 in the DA case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of "drug money".
In the fresh FIR registered against Majithia, the Vigilance Bureau had claimed the preliminary investigations revealed that more than Rs 540 crore of "drug money" has been laundered through several ways and it was allegedly facilitated by Majithia.
This FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing investigation being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team into the 2021 drug case.
In 2021, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.
Majithia spent more than five months in Patiala jail and walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.