Lookout notice against Majithia in drugs case
CHANDIGARH: The Union home ministry on Wednesday issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Shiromani Akali Dal MLA and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia a day after he was booked in a drugs case by the Punjab Police.
The notice, which is issued to prevent and monitor the entry and exit from the country of people wanted by different law enforcement agencies, was issued by the home ministry’s Bureau of Immigration on the request of the state police, which is trying to arrest the 46-year-old MLA, who was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act following a report submitted by a Harpreet Singh Sidhu, an additional director general of police and the chief of a special task force (STF) in 2018. The STF was formed by the Congress government in 2017 to look into drug cases.
The copy of the notice has been sent to the additional director general of police (ADGP), counter intelligence. “The lookout circular shall remain in force until and unless a deletion request is received by the Bureau of Immigration from the originator itself,” the notice, a copy of which HT has seen, said. If immigration officers of a country have a lookout circular (LOC), the offender can be nabbed at the airport.
A Special Investigating Team (SIT) constituted by the Punjab
DGP to look into the case raided various places in Chandigarh, Himachal and the national capital to arrest the former minister.
According to a 49-page FIR registered at the State Crime Police Station in Mohali, Majithia has been booked for cognisable offences under Sections 25 (punishment for allowing premises etc. to be used for commission of an offence), 27(A) ( financing activities indulging in production, manufacture, possession, sale, purchase, transportation, use or consumption, import and export or deal in any activities pertaining to narcotic drugs) and 29 (party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) of the NDPS Act.
These sections have the provision of imprisonment up to 10 years along with a fine as decided by the court.
HT has seen a copy of the FIR. “According to the findings of the STF report, prima facie there is sufficient evidence to further investigate the role of Majithia as regards the allegations made in application under scrutiny,” the FIR said.
The drug menace and efforts for its eradication have always remained at the centre of the political discourse in Punjab for the past one decade. Putting the big fish behind bars has been a major promise of the Congress government to voters.
In 2018, the STF chief was given the task of analysing the former Akali minister’s role on the directions of Punjab & Haryana high court. His report, based on the statements of drug case accused Jagjit Singh Chahal and Maninder Singh Bittu Aulakh to the ED, are part of the FIR. On February 1, 2018, the STF had submitted its status report in the Punjab & Haryana high court, which later sought comments from the Punjab DGP and the home secretary. Since then, it was lying in a sealed cover in the court.
The FIR also mentioned the legal opinion of Punjab’s advocate general DS Patwalia, who strongly pushed for action on the STF chief’s report.
“The Congress government changed two DGPs and three Bureau of Investigation directors to implement its vendetta. Eventually, it was a DGP, who was not even eligible for empanelment as a regular DGP, who was given charge to falsely book Majithia as a quid-pro-quo. The party will expose this false case...,” SAD chief Sukhbir Badal said.
“We did struggle to give justice to those who ruined Punjab’s youth for years. At last, Waheguru ji has heard prayer of Punjab,” state home minister Sukhjinder Randhawa tweeted.