The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s petition challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order denying him bail in a disproportionate assets case.
A Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath, however, refused to consider his prayer for interim bail. Asking the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to respond to Majithia’s petition challenging the December 4 order of the high court, it posted the matter for hearing on January 19.
The high court had dismissed his bail plea, saying the possibility of him influencing the investigation could not be ruled out. Directing the Bureau to complete its probe in three months, the high court had said Majithia could seek bail after that.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Majithia on June 25 in the disproportionate assets (DA) case that allegedly involved accumulation of Rs 540 crore of wealth. The case FIR against Majithia stemmed from an ongoing probe into a 2021 drug case by a Punjab Police special investigation team. The FIR was registered on the basis of a June 2025 report of the SIT.
Majithia is lodged in the New Nabha Jail, Patiala. A Mohali court had rejected his bail plea in August. The Vigilance Bureau filed an over 40,000-page chargesheet in the disproportionate assets case in the Mohali court on August 22.
Senior advocate S Muralidhar told the top court on behalf of Majithia that the petitioner was earlier granted bail in a case registered under the NDPS Act, 1985 and that court had dismissed the Punjab government’s petition challenging the bail granted to him.
“In that NDPS case, they had filed a supplementary affidavit before this court, saying they have unearthed evidence about money being received in the NDPS case. That same financial transaction is now used to foist a new case under the Prevention of Corruption Act,” Muralidhar pointed out.
“In case the petitioner is to be released from custody at this stage, possibility of his influencing the further course of investigation, trying to cover up the questionable transactions, manipulating the record relating to the same, and influencing the concerned persons/witnesses not to cooperate with the investigating agency, cannot be ruled out,” the high court had said, noting that Majithia was one of the prominent political figures in Punjab and had been a cabinet minister for over seven years. The investigating agency has cited about 20 material witnesses, who were termed vulnerable, the HC had said.
Majithia has termed the disproportionate assets case against him “political witch-hunting and vendetta”, a fallout of his being a vocal critic of the current dispensation. In 2021, Majithia was booked under the NDPS Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.
Also read: HC dismisses Majithia's bail plea
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