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The Punjab Cabinet Monday granted prosecution sanction against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia under the Prevention of Corruption Act in a case of disproportionate assets against him, as per an official statement.
“As per advice of the Advocate General (AG), Punjab, the matter with regard to granting of prosecution sanction of former minister first needs to be discussed in the Council of Ministers,” read the statement, adding that it will now be sent to the Governor for passing of formal order.
The decision was taken in meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann who joined through video conferencing from the a hospital in Mohali, where he is undergoing treatment for exhaustion and low heart rate.
Majithia is currently in judicial custody and lodged in New Nabha jail in Patiala. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Majithia on June 25 in the disproportionate assets (DA) case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of “drug money”.
On August 22, the VB filed a 40,000-page chargesheet at a Mohali court in the case.
In the FIR, the VB claimed that preliminary investigations revealed that more than Rs 540 crore of “drug money” had been laundered through several ways, and Majithia allegedly facilitated it.
This FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing investigation 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.
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