Chandigarh:

In what could raise troubles for senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought a report from the Punjab Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the status of the investigation in the December 2021 drugs case, sources said today.

Mr Majithia, a former Punjab minister, was charged in the case in December 2021 and sent to jail in January 2022. He is currently out on bail since August 2022. The action against him was taken on the basis of a 2018 report by the anti-drug special task force (STF) into a drug racket in Punjab.

It is learnt that the probe agency ED has taken cognizance of the report of SIT and has sought details about the probe status, FIR, and the statements of witnesses.

The ED has also sought details of 284 bank accounts and income tax returns of his family firms and members. The central agency has also sought information about various land deals in question and the report of a financial expert.

Mr Majithia, 48, has long maintained that the cases against him were politically motivated, contending high-ranking police officers had already investigated them.

Hailing from a politically influential family, the Akali leader won from the Majithia constituency in the 2007 Punjab assembly elections for the first time. He then retained the seat in 2012 and 2017.

He lost from the Amritsar East assembly constituency after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a massive victory in Punjab in 2022.

Mr Majithia, who is the brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and brother-in-law of Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, has been a minister in the Akali Dal governments between 2007 and 2017.