Ex-DGP Punjab Chattopadhyaya Confirms Majithia’s Connivance with Drug Smugglers

Ex-DGP Punjab Chattopadhyaya Confirms Majithia’s Connivance with Drug Smugglers

Ex-DGP Chattopadhyaya and ED Officer Singh Join Probe as Former Minister Majithia Remanded in Drug Money Case.

By Rakesh Raman
New Delhi | June 28, 2025

Mohali, India – June 28, 2025 – In a significant escalation of a corruption case targeting Punjab’s political establishment, former Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Sidharth Chattopadhyaya on Friday (June 27) visited the Vigilance Bureau (VB) head office to provide information regarding the case against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

Chattopadhyaya asserted that there was “much evidence” against Majithia as early as 2012, indicating Majithia’s “connivance” with drug smugglers and “financial gain”. He highlighted political interference, noting that Bikram Majithia and Sukhbir Badal’s government was in power in 2012.

Chattopadhyaya, who had ordered the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Majithia in December 2021 during his brief tenure as officiating Punjab DGP, met with officials from both the VB, which is probing the latest disproportionate assets (DA) case, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) investigating the 2021 FIR under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

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The recent DA case against Majithia is, in fact, based on investigations by this SIT. He told reporters that a “direct link” between Majithia and drug smugglers came out in his probe, stating “Hundred percent. Hundred percent. There is proof, and it will come in front of you”. The former DGP also claimed that evidence had been destroyed and shared details about this with the investigative teams. A senior VB officer confirmed that Chattopadhyaya was requested to brief them on the case’s background, money trail, and other details, and his information would be formally brought on record.

Chattopadhyaya further elaborated on the findings of a Punjab and Haryana High Court-constituted SIT, which he headed in December 2017 to probe the nexus between drug traffickers and enforcement agencies. This SIT submitted three reports detailing the misuse of the NDPS Act, extortions, and the money trail of ill-gotten wealth by “black sheep” within the Punjab Police. He cited instances such as the wrongdoings of dismissed AIG Rajjit Singh, who allegedly amassed properties from drug money, and dismissed Inspector Inderjit Singh, who received four promotions despite facing 15 departmental inquiries and four cases, including three for corruption.

🧩 Quick Facts – Majithia Case:
• Accused: Bikram Singh Majithia (Shiromani Akali Dal)
• Allegation: Drug money laundering (previous), now DA case
• Current Charge: Disproportionate Assets
• Status: 7-day police custody ordered
• Investigating Agency: Punjab Vigilance Bureau

Following Chattopadhyaya’s visit, Niranjan Singh, retired Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), also reached the Vigilance Bureau head office on Saturday (June 28) to share information in the case with VB officials. Singh, who previously led the ED probe against Majithia, had stated that he faced “enormous pressure” from his seniors to “go slow” in the case. An ED status report by Niranjan Singh had previously formed the basis of the drugs case registered against Majithia in 2021.

These developments precede and follow the remand of former Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia to seven-day police custody by a Mohali court on June 26. Majithia’s arrest on June 25 followed aggressive raids by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau across 25 locations, including his Amritsar residence. The charges against Majithia include amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income while serving as a minister in 2009, and laundering Rs 540 crore of drug money. His arrest is seen as a potential, though possibly fleeting, crackdown on Punjab’s deeply entrenched criminal-political nexus. Majithia belongs to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) political party in Punjab.

In response to Chattopadhyaya’s statements, SAD spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler questioned the former DGP’s “credibility”. Kler stated that the 2021 case against Majithia was “false,” registered under Chattopadhyaya’s signatures, and that he had failed to provide evidence in the high court or Supreme Court for four years, with the challan never being presented. Kler questioned Chattopadhyaya’s current role as a witness in the disproportionate assets (DA) case registered against Majithia.