RMN News Report Highlights:

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | June 26, 2025

Mohali, India – In a scathing indictment of Punjab’s pervasive criminal underworld, a Mohali court today, June 26, slammed former Punjab Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia with a 7-day police remand in a corruption case that has ripped open the festering wound of drug money laundering within the state’s political elite.

Majithia’s arrest on Wednesday, June 25, following aggressive raids by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau across 25 locations, including his Amritsar residence, signals a potential, albeit likely fleeting, crackdown on the state’s deeply entrenched criminal-political nexus.

The Rot Runs Deep: Drug Trade and Official Complicity

This latest development stems from a relentless investigation by a Punjab police Special Investigation Team (SIT) into a 2021 drug case against Majithia. The shocking truth, long an open secret, is that the illegal drug trade has metastasized throughout Punjab, with complicity extending to politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as high-ranking police officials. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has previously delivered a damning verdict, explicitly stating the existence of a criminal collusion between the Punjab Police and the drug mafia.

Adding to this appalling revelation, an NDTV report highlighted the court’s fierce rebuke of the Punjab Government and police for their egregious failure to curb the flourishing drug trade. Judges explicitly noted the suspicious absence of police personnel as witnesses in drug-related cases, strongly suggesting they are “operating hand in glove” with the criminal syndicates.

[ Video: ਗ੍ਰਿਫ਼ਤਾਰ ਬਿਕਰਮ ਮਜੀਠੀਆ: ਨਸ਼ੀਲੇ ਪਦਾਰਥਾਂ ਦਾ ਅਪਰਾਧੀ ਜਾਂ ਇਮਾਨਦਾਰ ਸਿਆਸਤਦਾਨ? ]

The court’s desperate plea for immediate action against this drug menace lays bare the grotesque reality of a system corrupted to its core. The prevailing belief is that Majithia, alongside a multitude of other Punjab politicians, are deeply embroiled in this illicit trade, shielded by the pervasive judicial corruption that cripples India’s justice system.

A Fortune Forged in Filth: The Rs 540 Crore Money Laundering Scheme

The Vigilance Bureau Punjab has unleashed a torrent of incriminating details, revealing “massive laundering of drug money facilitated by Bikram Singh Majithia,” an operation estimated to exceed a staggering Rs 540 crores. Preliminary investigations paint a grim picture: Rs 161 crores of illicit cash were funnelled into bank accounts of companies under Majithia’s direct control, a further Rs 141 crore was slyly routed through suspected foreign entities, and an additional Rs 236 crores were discovered as excess deposits, entirely lacking proper disclosure or explanation in company financial statements. Furthermore, Majithia stands accused of illicitly acquiring movable and immovable assets with no discernible legitimate source of income, leading to the registration of a disproportionate assets (DA) case against him.

Political Posturing and Pathetic Excuses

As the walls close in, Majithia and his wife have resorted to the predictable theatrics of victimhood, decrying Vigilance Bureau members for “barging into” their residences. Majithia, in a desperate attempt to deflect, has shamelessly accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Chief Minister (CM) Bhagwant Mann of orchestrating a “political animosity” campaign. This pathetic charade, supported by Majithia’s lawyers and associates, involves the dissemination of ambiguous, unverified information, a classic tactic to cloud the truth.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and other senior Akali leaders have predictably unleashed a vitriolic assault on the AAP government, shamelessly branding the raids as a “political vendetta.” SAD’s Daljit Singh Cheema, in a cynical attempt to divert attention, brazenly claimed the government was staging a “drama to divert people’s attention from corruption” and even dared to draw parallels to the Emergency period, accusing AAP’s top leader Arvind Kejriwal of a grand conspiracy against SAD politicians.

The Unholy Alliance: AAP’s Grip on Punjab and Unchecked Corruption

While the corruption cases against all politicians are undeniably real, the chronic incompetence of India’s anti-corruption officials consistently fails to present watertight cases, allowing criminals to weaponize the “politically motivated” rhetoric.

The political landscape of Punjab has been grotesquely altered, with former Delhi CM Kejriwal and other AAP politicians, fresh off a Delhi election loss, seizing absolute control, effectively reducing Bhagwant Mann to a mere figurehead. This insidious dominance of Delhi-based AAP politicians, themselves mired in serious allegations of corruption and money laundering in the Delhi liquor scam and school construction scam, is nothing short of a bloodless coup.

Indeed, a proper investigation would undoubtedly expose the vast majority of AAP politicians in Punjab as having amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. Furthermore, if the Punjab liquor scam were probed with the same rigor as its Delhi counterpart, many AAP politicians, including Bhagwant Mann, and numerous Punjab bureaucrats would face prosecution and potential conviction.

The chilling reality is that central agencies refuse to investigate the Punjab liquor scandal, suggesting a sordid collusion between the Bhagwant Mann government and the central Modi regime, a pact to terrorize protesting Punjab farmers and activists who dare to speak truth to power.

The Bhagwant Mann government stands accused of a grave misappropriation of public funds, squandering taxpayer money on AAP programs while Punjab’s debt spirals to a monumental Rs. 4 lakh crore. This financial malfeasance demands immediate prosecution and conviction for Bhagwant Mann, other AAP politicians, and culpable state bureaucrats.

A Nation Held Hostage: The Broader Context of Corruption and Judicial Farce

Majithia’s case is but a single, albeit glaring, symptom of India’s systemic corruption. The rot runs deep, infecting every facet of public life:

• Widespread Disproportionate Assets: Almost every politician in Punjab, regardless of party affiliation, is alleged to have accumulated wealth far exceeding their legitimate income.
• Evasion Tactics: Corrupt politicians cynically use public issues as a shield, feigning “harassment” when investigative agencies close in, hoping to mask their financial crimes. Their incessant clamor against government failures is a calculated ploy to deflect from their visibly ill-gotten gains.
• “Virtual Acquittal” Through Bail: The deeply disturbing trend of granting bail to influential politicians accused of serious financial crimes has become a national disgrace. Once bailed, they rarely return to jail, effectively rendering bail a “virtual acquittal.”
• Judicial Corruption: The very pillars of justice are crumbling under the weight of alleged bribery. A “slew of judges” are said to be on the take, releasing culprits on bail. Senior lawyers, particularly those with Congress party affiliations, are accused of acting as repulsive intermediaries between “top criminal politicians and court judges who are apparently bribed by them to get bail for their clients.” The recent discovery of massive unaccounted cash at Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Verma’s home, allegedly bribe money for various judges, and the transfer of a Special Judge (PC Act) after a bribery case against his record keeper, are stark reminders of this judicial debauchery.
• Luxury Behind Bars: When affluent politicians are finally jailed, they are reportedly granted “luxurious facilities as if they are on vacation in a 5-star resort,” a stark contrast to the dehumanizing conditions faced by ordinary prisoners.
• Political Protection: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stands accused of shielding its own corrupt members from prosecution. Even more disturbing is the allegation that corrupt politicians from other parties magically find exoneration once they align themselves with the BJP. The Supreme Court and other judges, allegedly compromised or terrified by the hostile Modi regime, consistently refuse to order investigations into major corruption cases plaguing the Modi government, including the PM-CARES Fund, Rafale, Sri Lanka energy project involving Adani, the Modi-Adani collusion, Sahara-Birla payoff, and countless others involving Modi’s party colleagues.

High-profile figures like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, P. Chidambaram, D.K. Shivakumar, and Hemant Soren, despite facing “grave allegations,” are all out on bail. AAP’s own luminaries, including former CM Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, have been embroiled in serious corruption allegations, jailed, and subsequently released on bail, a testament to the grotesque parody of justice in India.

A Looming Farce of Justice

If a truly thorough investigation into financial malfeasance were to sweep across Punjab’s political landscape, the sources indicate that “almost all politicians will be jailed and their properties will be forfeited.” Yet, the grim reality is that “rich Majithia will also be soon released without forfeiting any of his wealth or properties,” and should he be jailed, he will “enjoy full luxury in jail.” His brazen body language and rhetoric during the raids were a clear attempt to conceal his crimes, a common tactic among these privileged criminals.

When these corrupt politicians are arrested, they shamelessly deploy paid protesters to stage theatrical demonstrations against investigating agencies, creating a false narrative of fabricated cases. The systemic corruption pervading India’s bureaucracy, political class, and judiciary is meticulously detailed in the India Corruption Research Report 2024 and India Judicial Research Report 2024, revealing a nation held hostage by its criminal elite.

The chilling prediction stands: Majithia will soon walk free, his release secured by bribing judges, a rampant practice in Indian courts where “bribe for bail” is the norm. A cabal of senior lawyers-cum-politicians, often with Congress party ties, act as contemptible intermediaries, facilitating this grotesque exchange between criminal politicians and corrupt judges.

These dishonest lawyers even brazenly hold press conferences, defending the very judges they have bribed. Meanwhile, poor prisoners, unable to grease the palms of justice, languish in jails, often without even the semblance of a trial, a stark monument to India’s broken legal system. The pursuit of justice remains a cruel joke for the ordinary citizen, while the powerful buy their freedom with impunity.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.