Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], July 8 : Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is currently in 14-day judicial custody, has been granted three weeks by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to amend his petition challenging his arrest.
During the hearing of his bail application on Tuesday, Majithia's counsel requested the court for additional time to revise the petition. The High Court accepted the plea and granted three weeks for the amendment. The case will now be heard on July 29.
Majithia was recently arrested in a case related to disproportionate assets.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau took the former Punjab minister into custody on June 25, in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, after conducting searches at his house in Amritsar. He was brought to Mohali the next day, and the court sent him to seven-day custody under the Vigilance Bureau. The remand was then extended by four days.
Earlier on Sunday, Majithia was sent to judicial custody till July 19 by the Mohali court in an alleged money laundering case linked to drugs.
Majithia was brought to court and presented before the duty magistrate amidst heavy police deployment. Special Public Prosecutor Ferry Sofat said, "The state applied for judicial remand, and the Court has now sent Bikram Singh Majithia to judicial remand up to 19 July. He will be kept in the New Nabha Jail. The next date of hearing is July 19."
As July 8 was reported as the date for the hearing of the bail plea, the prosecutor stated that the bail application submitted on Thursday contained certain errors, following which the court directed that the application be filed again.
Meanwhile, SAD leader Daljit S Cheema criticised security measures implemented by the Punjab government following Majithia's arrest and compared it to the Emergency.
He further alleged vendetta politics by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government in the State.
"This government wants to defame the Akali Dal leadership by spreading lies and false propaganda. This is vendetta politics," he said.