Chandigarh, Dec 4 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case, observing that the possibility of him influencing the investigation could not be ruled out.

While pronouncing the order, Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, however, directed the Punjab Vigilance Bureau to complete its probe within three months.

Thereafter, the petitioner can seek his release on bail, the judge said, adding the court is conscious of the fact that the petitioner cannot be kept in custody for an indefinite period, as that would infringe upon his right to liberty.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Majithia on June 25 in the disproportionate assets case that involved alleged laundering of Rs 540 crore of "drug money". He was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The FIR against Majithia stems from an ongoing probe being conducted by a Punjab Police special investigation team into a 2021 drug case.

Pronouncing the order on Thursday, the court observed that the petitioner is one of the prominent political figures in the Punjab and had been a cabinet minister for over seven years.

"The investigating agency has cited about 20 material witnesses, who have been termed vulnerable. In case the petitioner is to be released from custody at this stage, the possibility of his influencing the further course of investigation, trying to cover up the questionable transactions, manipulating the record relating to the same, and influencing the concerned persons/witnesses not to cooperate with the investigating agency, cannot be ruled out," read the order.

The court said the petitioner is accused of serious economic offences.

"Investigation of the case has revealed huge unaccounted money in his bank accounts, as also the setting up of a large number of companies through which the financial transactions have been carried out surreptitiously for his benefit.

"It has also come to the notice of the investigating agency that money has been routed through some foreign entities based in Singapore and Cyprus. The petitioner is directly or indirectly in control of most of these entities with immediate family members, and appears to be the key beneficiary," it said.

The high court order stated that the transactions, as well as assets accumulated by routing the money in the manner aforementioned, are being investigated, and all this has adverse ramifications for the financial health of the state.

"Various leads to track the money trail are being followed. Not only the role of these companies, but also that of the petitioner's close associates and financial experts is still under investigation," read the order.

The court said investigators are in the process of accessing crucial records about the questionable financial transactions from various banks, financial institutions, and other agencies.

It further observed that there is no absolute bar on registering a fresh case for separate offences on the basis of material coming to notice while investigating a case.

Accordingly, as the investigating agency statedly came across new facts which appeared to be part of a larger conspiracy pointing to the petitioner's disproportionate assets and use of ill-gotten money, it was within its right to register a second FIR and investigate the case, said the court. "It cannot be termed a mala fide exercise or sheer political vendetta against the petitioner." Majithia's counsel R S Cheema contended that the companies or entities mentioned in the FIR have been thoroughly investigated by the state in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case, as well as in the case the vigilance bureau mentioned the alleged disproportionate assets and cash deposits in the petitioner's as well as in companies' accounts as "drug money".

The registration of the case is in violation of the law and an abuse of its process, the counsel claimed in the court. "Therefore, there is no basis to lodge the FIR in question. It is an outcome of the vendetta politics of the present government against the petitioner." Opposing Majithia's bail plea, Punjab Advocate General Maninderjit Singh Bedi and additional Advocate General Chanchal Singla submitted that the petitioner is accused of very serious economic offences.

"He (Majithai) has created a web of companies in the name of his family members and diverted his ill-gotten money there. Although a chargesheet has been filed against him, further investigation in the case is going on, and the investigating agency is following the leads which have so far been revealed.

"In case the petitioner is released at this stage, it will hamper further investigation and uncovering of deeper financial irregularities," submitted the state counsels.

They argued that the petitioner is the "mastermind behind all these transactions, and he is aware of the entire network of companies that has been created for handling the ill-gotten money." "The investigation has also found leads pointing towards offshore accounts of the petitioner, and movable and immovable assets in other states, about which an investigation is going on. Therefore, he should not be released." After listening to both parties, the high court said it was not inclined to grant regular bail to the petitioner at this stage, and the petition, accordingly, stands dismissed.

Majithia is lodged in the New Nabha jail in Patiala. A Mohali court rejected his bail plea in August.

The Vigilance Bureau filed an over 40,000-page chargesheet in the disproportionate assets case in the Mohali court on August 22.

The SAD leader has termed the disproportionate assets case against him "political witch-hunting and vendetta", a fallout of his being a vocal critic of the current dispensation.

In 2021, Majithia was booked under the NDPS Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force. He spent more than five months in Patiala jail. PTI CHS VSD NSD NSD