Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal functionary and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia and convicted former Punjab Police DSP Jagdish Singh Bhola have been summoned by a special investigation team (SIT) for questioning in Patiala on Oct 5 in connection with the drug case registered against Majithia in 2021, sources said.The two have been summoned on the same day, raising the possibility of face-to-face questioning, though there is no official confirmation that the SIT has planned such an exercise.SAD chief spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler accused the AAP govt of using the Majithia case to divert attention from its failures and alleged corruption. Calling it “summon politics”, Kler said Majithia had been summoned because he “continuously attacked the govt and exposed its alleged corruption”. He also claimed that five years after the case was registered, the AAP-led govt had “not even been able to file a chargesheet in this case”.Majithia’s name surfaced during the investigation into the drug racket linked to Bhola, who was arrested in 2013. Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on Dec 20, 2021, based on investigations into the multi-crore drug racket linked to Bhola and others. Bhola had also named Majithia in 2014 while being produced at a Mohali court during the drug-racket proceedings. Majithia has denied the allegations.Majithia was arrested in Feb 2022 and granted bail by a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court in Aug that year. The bench had said the material then available against him was “frail and not credible” in relation to the allegation of financing drug trafficking, while clarifying that its observations were tentative and confined to deciding the bail plea. The Punjab govt challenged the order in the Supreme Court, which declined to interfere in April 2025.In March 2025, the Supreme Court directed Majithia to join further investigation. He was questioned by the SIT for more than eight hours on March 17 and appeared again the following day.Bhola was convicted in three drug-related cases by a special CBI court in 2019 and sentenced to a total of 12 years in jail, with the sentences running concurrently. He was subsequently convicted in a separate money-laundering case in 2024 and sentenced to 10 years. The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail in May 2025. Appeals against the convictions are pending.
