The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday took into custody Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Bikram Singh Majithia after conducting searches at his house in Amritsar.
DCP (Investigation) Amritsar RPS Sandhu, said, “This (raid) is by Vigilance Department.” Asked if anyone had been arrested in the raid at Majithia’s house in the city’s Green Avenue road, the police official said, “Yes, they have been taken away.”Reacting to the development, Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said no person in the state is “above the law” noting that action will be taken against those who will be involved in activities related to drugs and its business. Cheema said that previous state governments had pushed the youth of Punjab towards drugs.
“A big campaign, ‘Yudh Nashe Ke Viruddh’, is going on in Punjab. When the Akali Dal and the BJP were in power, when the Congress party was in power, these people sold drugs and pushed the youth of Punjab towards drugs. They worked to make the people of Punjab addicted to drugs. The Aam Aadmi Party government is fighting against this. No person is above the law. Any person who was involved in the drug business, whether small or big, action will be taken against him”, Cheema told ANI.Meanwhile, SAD MLA and wife of Bikram Singh Majithia, Ganieve Kaur Majithia said that 30 to 35 people entered their house on Wednesday without showing any warrant or document.
Kaur stated that the matter is yet to be investigated. She further thanked all the SAD supporters who stood for Bikram Singh Mathithia during the raids.”Thirty to thirty-five people entered our house. They neither showed us any warrant nor any other document…They just stormed into our house and started checking our personal belongings. They did not speak with us. I tried speaking to the officers…This is a matter which has not even been investigated. Let’s see what happens. Let the government do whatever it wants…Whatever is happening is all before you. We have fought this fight and we will continue to fight…People of Majithia stand with us and they will continue to do so. We thank them,” Kaur told reporters.
In Chandigarh, Arshdeep Singh Kler who is SAD spokesperson and lawyer of Bikram Singh Majithia said, “All of you know how the AAP government uses machinery against their political rivals. This morning, the residence of Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar was raided by a team of Vigilance Department. Majithia and his family were present there. Here in Sector 4 (Chandigarh), the residence of MLA Ganieve Kaur Majithia is located.”Chandigarh Police personnel, SSP Vigilance Mohali and 15 others are inside. They do not even have a search warrant for this property…SSP Vigilance says that FIR has already been registered. So, they can go anywhere…This clears the intentions of the Government of Bhagwant Mann…We will take the legal route. We will present this before Court. One thing is very clear, they had been levelling drug allegations against Bikram Singh Majithia for years. But to this day, they do not have any evidence. They lost the case in Supreme Court…So, if they think they can suppress the truth through false cases like this, they won’t be able to do it,” Kler said.
Earlier, Punjab minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that raids were conducted by the vigilance departments at nine places in Amritsar and 25 places in Punjab which included the residence of SAD leader Majithia.Dhaliwal further slammed the previous Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh and stated that he should have put drug smugglers in jail but nothing such happened.
“Today, our police and vigilance raided nine places in Amritsar and 25 places in Punjab, including Bikram Singh Majithia. This drug issue started during the time of the Akali Dal and the BJP government. During their government, many drug smugglers were caught who gave statements against Bikram Singh Majithia, but they did not take any action. When Captain Amarinder Singh came, he said he would put the drug smugglers behind bars, but nothing happened. We had promised the people of Punjab that we would take action against drug smugglers. No matter who the person is, action will be taken. So we are taking action”, he said.Punjab AAP President Aman Arora said, “Inquiry would have happened based on a complaint received by the Vigilance department. I can confidently say that the Punjab government does not work with a sense of vendetta or witch-hunting.”
Also, Punjab AAP leader Manish Sisodia said, “Only the Punjab Government and Vigilance officials can provide details, but AAP has always followed a policy of zero tolerance against drugs or any other corruption. We are a party of ‘kattar imandar’ people.””Whosoever they might be, if someone has done anything wrong, they are not spared. The mission of AAP, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann is one – those spreading drug menace, those doing something, they will not be spared.” He also said, “The party achieved success in Gujarat and Punjab Assembly by-elections, so leadership from both states came to meet Arvind Kejriwal today. Both newly elected MLAs came here, seeking blessings and guidance from Arvind Kejriwal…” Sisodia said.