CHANDIGARH: Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday for allegedly laundering more than Rs 540 crore of "drug money", was on Thursday sent to a seven-day vigilance remand by a court in Mohali.
The court order came two-and-a-half hours after Majithia was brought into the court complex. Speaking to the media, Ferry Sofat, the advocate representing the Vigilance Bureau, said the Bureau had sought a 12-day remand for the accused, but the court granted a seven-day remand. Majithia will now be produced before the court again on July 2.
Sofat told the court that Majithia had allegedly "threatened" the vigilance team when they raided his residence.
He added that Majithia had failed to account for the source of Rs 540 crore in income. "Saraya acquired wealth and got Rs 161 crore cash deposited in bank accounts and Rs 141 crore through foreign entities. There is no explanation or legitimate source for it. While Rs 236 crore has been credited to the accounts of Saraya, there is no explanation for this in financial statements," he said.
He further told the court, "His wife, Ganieve Kaur, an MLA, had also incorporated a firm with a seed capital of Rs 1 crore, earning a profit of around Rs 56 lakh in a year, but after that, there are no details of its operation."
Sofat said that Majithia's firms had dealings with Cyprus- and Singapore-based entities, which he described as suspicious, noting that these jurisdictions are considered tax havens. He added that Majithia's lawyer vehemently opposed the remand.
Before Majithia was brought to court under tight security arrangements, police detained several Akali supporters who were protesting his arrest near the court complex. Due to the heavy police presence and barricading, work at both the administrative and judicial offices came to a standstill.
Majithia was arrested from his residence in Amritsar on Wednesday and brought to the Mohali Vigilance headquarters late in the evening.
Later that night, he was taken to the Civil Hospital in Phase 6, Mohali, for a medical examination, after which he was produced before the court on Thursday morning.
He was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on charges of disproportionate assets and having income beyond his known sources of income.
