Former Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, calling his recent arrest and police remand “illegal” and politically motivated. On Friday, the High Court asked the state’s legal counsel to get further instructions and postponed the hearing to July 8.
Majithia, through his lawyers Sartej Singh Narula, Damanbir Singh Sobti, and Arshdeep Singh Cheema, argued that the case against him is based on political vendetta. He claimed the FIR filed by the Vigilance Bureau on June 25 under the Prevention of Corruption Act was illegal, and his arrest from home the same day violated legal procedures.
In his petition, Majithia said he was kept in custody for over two hours before his official arrest at 11:20 am, which is against the law that says a person must be presented before a magistrate within 24 hours of being detained.
He also questioned the remand given by the magistrate the next day, calling it vague and legally flawed. According to him, the police provided no strong reason to justify taking him into custody, only making general claims about his “influence” and “foreign connections.” He added that this appeared to be an attempt to force a confession from him, which is against his constitutional rights.
Majithia further pointed out that the Supreme Court had earlier rejected the demand for his custodial interrogation and had instead told him to cooperate with the investigation, which he said he had done fully.
Despite this, he said, the police once again sought custody by hiding important facts and misleading the magistrate. He also claimed the magistrate didn’t properly explain why the police remand was necessary, and didn’t follow the rules laid down by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The High Court will now hear the case on July 8.
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