Akali Dal claims clean chit to Majithia in drugs case

Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal Thursday claimed the Enforcement Directorate had given a clean chit to state's powerful Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia in the multi-million rupee international synthetic drugs racket.

Senior Akali Dal leaders and cabinet ministers Tota Singh and Sikandar Singh Maluka said that the clean chit given to Majithia by the ED "with the explicit declaration that Mr. Majithia was not connected with drugs issue" has exposed the "nefarious propaganda of Congress that was bent upon defaming the state".

"The ED clean chit to Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia has approved the Punjab government's stand on the drugs issue, besides putting the misleading campaign of opposition on mat once again," the ministers said in a joint statement.

The ministers demanded a public apology from state Congress leaders, especially its president Pratap Singh Bajwa for pointing accusing fingers at Majithia.

Majithia was questioned by the ED late December last year for over four hours with regard to money-laundering links in the Rs.6,000 crore international synthetic drugs racket busted by the Punjab Police in 2013.

The younger brother of Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and brother-in-law of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, he faced allegations of having links with certain NRIs who have been accused of international money laundering related to the massive drugs racket.

The ED, a wing under the union finance ministry, had sent summons to Majithia to appear Dec 26.

There had been demands from various quarters for Majithia's resignation on moral grounds after his questioning by the ED.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, however, ruled out Majithia's resignation even though ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been running a coalition government with the Akali Dal in Punjab since 2007, sought Majithia's resignation.