New Delhi: Punjab Police has secured a Blue Corner Notice from the Interpol against Canada-based alleged drug mafia Satpreet Singh Thiara alias Satta as part of its probe into a case involving former state minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
Satta and two other residents of Canada, Parminder Singh alias Pindi and Amrinder Singh alias Laddi, have been named as key figures by the Punjab Police while framing the case against Majithia.
The Blue Corner Notice has been issued by the international police agency at the request of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case after Majithia was booked in 2021.
Issued based on requests from law-enforcement agencies of member countries, the Blue Corner Notice facilitates the collection of additional information on the subject and its dissemination to the relevant agencies of a member state.
Who is Satpreet Singh Thiara alias Satta
The saga began with a case involving Jagdish Singh alias Bhola, a wrestler who later became a deputy superintendent of police in the state. Punjab Police arrested him in November 2013 along with Maninder Singh Aulakh alias Bittu and Jagjit Singh Chahal, accusing them of being part of an alleged drug syndicate.
Based on several such FIRs, Enforcement Directorate (ED) opened an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against the accused and questioned them. The federal probe agency recorded their statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the constitution of an SIT comprising three senior IPS officers to further probe the case related to the Bhola-led syndicate. In the meantime, the newly formed Congress government led by Amarinder Singh established a Special Task Force in 2017 to investigate drug-related cases.
In response to a petition filed before it seeking a probe against Majithia and his alleged role in the syndicate, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Punjab STF chief to submit a report in two months, by January 2018.
In his status report, then STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu relied on statements made by the accused before the ED to allege that Majithia had a close relationship with Satta, Pindi, Laddi, as well as other co-accused arrested in the case. Additionally, the STF alleged in the status report that Majithia facilitated the supply of pseudoephedrine to Satta and Pindi between 2007-2010 when he was a minister in the SAD government.
Based on these disclosures, the Punjab Police registered a case against Majithia and his alleged accomplices in 2021 and handed over the case to the SIT.
In the course of investigation and during court proceedings, the Punjab Police SIT submitted that Satta, along with two other Canada-based drug mafia, used to stay at Majithia’s residence during 2007-2010 and avail security apparatus extended to Majithia as a minister in the then Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD government.
In exchange, the Punjab Police alleged in the past, Satta also provided election funds to Majithia.
Majithia has denied allegations against him. After his anticipatory bail applications were rejected by courts up to the Supreme Court level, Majithia surrendered before a trial court in Mohali in February 2022. Later in August of that year, the high court granted him bail and he came out of jail. But he was arrested again this year in a related disproportionate assets case and a Mohali court has rejected his bail plea.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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