NDPS case: SC grants interim protection from arrest to SAD's Bikram Majithia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Jan, 2022 02:28 PM
New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) Agreeing to hear on Monday the plea filed by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia for anticipatory bail in a drug case, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Punjab government not to take any coercive action against him till then while granting interim protection from arrest.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Majithia, argued that the present case is blatantly political in nature and has been registered in furtherance of the upcoming elections, with the malafide objective to target Bikram Singh Majithia who is a mainstream leader of the opposition party.
He was granted three-day interim protection from arrest by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana which expired today.
The case on behalf of Majithia was argued by Senior Adv Mukul Rohatgi, Senior Adv R.S. Cheema, Snr Adv, assisted by D.S. Sobti, Arshdeep Singh Cheema, Nikhil Rohatgi and Misha Rohatgi Mohta, Advocates and a team from Karanjawala & Co led by Advocate Nandini Gore,(Senior partner) and Sandeep Kapur (Senior partner), Advocate and comprising Virinder Sandhu, Sonia Nigam, Tahira Karanjawala, Apoorva Pandey, Aashneet Singh Anand, Neha Khandelwal, Arjun Sharma, Abhimanshu Dhyani and Sahil Modi.
Appearing for the Punjab government, Senior Advocate P. Chidambaram argued that Majithia has gone into hiding after the rejection of his bail plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and now he is appearing through counsel.
The Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, after hearing the arguments, posted the further hearing of the case to January 31.
Majithia, the brother-n-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, is in the fray for the February 20 assembly polls from Majitha, near Amritsar.
He had moved the high court after a Mohali court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act registered on December 20.
In a 49-page FIR filed by the state police Crime Branch at the Mohali police station, the SAD leader has been booked under sections 25, 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act.
Acceding to the major demand of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Channi said the foundation stone of a convention centre for PITEX spread over 10 acres would be laid within a week to enable the organisation to carry out diverse range of activities to promote trade and industry in the region in a big way.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that Punjab had reported four deaths due to shortage of Oxygen during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
Welcoming the leaders in the party, Shekhawat said that the BJP will be strengthened in Punjab. "They have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and they will strengthen the organisation in the state. BJP is moving ahead in Punjab and will create a new history," he said, noting all the new joinees are prominent names in their respective fields.
Sharing details, Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota said keeping in view the recent recoveries of RDX, hand grenades and pistols from the border district, strong barricading has been done.
The BJP, which is likely to contest the Punjab assembly polls on its own for the first time after its ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) walked away, will be banking on leaders from the opposition parties and prominent personalities to make its electoral presence felt in the state. In the last assembly polls in 2017, the BJP had won only three out of the 23 seats it contested.
Slamming Amarinder Singh for his "myopic" mindset towards the poor, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said on Friday that the former CM targeted him because he had raised issues of the common man.
