Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia has been granted bail in a drugs case
Jailed Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia has been granted bail in a drugs case by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Akali leader was charged on December 20 and sent to jail on January 24, after the Punjab assembly elections - which he contested unsuccessfully - ended.
Mr Majithia has long maintained that the cases were politically motivated, contending they had already been investigated by high-ranking police officers.
Mr Majithia had lost from Amritsar East assembly constituency after the Aam Aadmi Party scored a massive victory in Punjab.
Hailing from a politically influential family, the controversial Akali leader won from the Majithia constituency in the 2007 assembly elections for the first time. The 46-year-old retained the seat in 2012 and 2017.
He has been a minister in the Akali Dal governments between 2007 and 2017. Mr Majithia held the Environment, Revenue, NRI affairs as well as Science and Technology portfolios.
Mr Majithia is the brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and brother-in-law of Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal.