New Delhi: The Supreme Court today granted bail to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case. Former Punjab minister Majithia has been under house arrest in Nabha jail for the past seven months. The decision comes after Dera Beas chief Gurinder Singh Dhillon and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal visited Majithia recently.
Majithia's release is currently being viewed as important in Punjab's political circles as elections are going to be held in the state next year.
A bench headed by Justice Vikram Nath asked the Punjab government's lawyer, "Why do you want to keep him in jail?" The court today also took note that Majithia has been in jail for the past seven months. The Supreme Court had earlier issued notice to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Majithia's petition challenging the High Court's orders.
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested Majithia on June 25 in a disproportionate assets case, allegedly involving assets worth Rs 540 crore.
It is worth mentioning that during the previous hearing, Majithia had sought interim bail, citing threat to his life. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the order after hearing the arguments of senior advocate S Muralidhar appearing for Majithia and senior advocate Siddharth Dave appearing for the state government.
The court said that the bail is being granted in view of the circumstances of the case. The court particularly took into account that Majithia had already been granted bail in the NDPS case in the year 2022, which the state government’s petition to cancel was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2025.
Apart from this, Majithia has been in custody for the last several months and the police have filed their report and this case of disproportionate assets is related to the period from 2007 to 2017, while the FIR was registered in the year 2025 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. It is worth mentioning that Bikram Majithia was arrested by the Punjab Vigilance from his residence in Amritsar on June 25 and brought to Mohali. He was sent to the New Jail in Nabha on July 6 after being kept on twelve days of police remand. Majithia had filed a petition in the Supreme Court for his bail and the country's top court had sought a response from the Punjab government.