The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday, 22 December, issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, a day after an FIR was registered against him in a drugs case.
A former Punjab minister and the brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Majithia was booked on Tuesday under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for allegedly allowing drug smuggling through use of his property or conveyance.
He has also been accused of financing the distribution or sale of drugs and hatching a criminal conspiracy for smuggling.
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said that the case was "just one of the steps against drug mafia."
"It is a slap on the face of all those powerful who slept for years on issues at the heart of Punjab's soul," Sidhu said.
SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal termed the registration of the case as the "worst example of political vendetta."
"We have been airing our fears about such a vendetta. We will fight the injustice," he told the media in Muktsar town.
Meanwhile, reacting to the FIR, AAP's national spokesperson Raghav Chadha termed it an 'election stunt' by the Charanjit Singh Channi government.
"We had earlier stated that the Punjab government will lodge FIR against Bikram Singh Majithia put him in jail. This is a fixed match between Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal," he added, as quoted by ANI.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)