Punjab cabinet grants prosecution sanction against SAD leader Majithia

The Punjab cabinet on Monday granted prosecution sanction against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia under the Prevention of Corruption Act, said officials.The Punjab advocate general had earlier advised that the matter about granting prosecution sanction against the former minister needed to be discussed in the cabinet meeting, and thereafter, it would be sent to the Governor for issuance of a formal order.A cabinet meeting was held here, wherein Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann joined through video conferencing from the Fortis Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment for exhaustion and low heart rate.Majithia is currently in judicial custody and lodged in New Nabha jail in Patiala.The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) had on June 25 arrested Majithia in the disproportionate assets (DA) case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of “drug money”.On August 22, the VB filed an over 40,000-page chargesheet at a Mohali court in the DA case.In the FIR, the VB claimed that preliminary investigations revealed that more than Rs 540 crore of “drug money” had been laundered through several ways, and Majithia allegedly facilitated it.This FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing investigation into the 2021 drug case.In 2021, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force. Majithia spent more than five months in Patiala jail and walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.