The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea filed by Akali Dal leaderBikram Singh Majithia seeking to quash a first information report against him in a drugs case, Bar and Bench reported.

In December, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on allegations of being linked to a drugs racket operating in Punjab.

“We are not inclined to entertain the petition under Article 32,” the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, according to Bar and Bench. “We allow the petitioner to approach the High Court and we direct that the petition be heard by the High Court’s division bench only and not the single bench.”

Article 32 of the Constitution allows individuals to move the Supreme Court if their rights have been “unduly deprived”. In his plea, Majithia had argued that the case against him was politically motivated, ANI reported.

In December, a Mohali court had granted Majithia an interim protection from arrest. However, on January 24, the Punjab and Haryana High Court cancelled the protection for Majithia, a former Punjab minister and brother-in-law of Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

On January 31, he then moved the Supreme Court, which granted him protection from arrest till February 23 in view of the upcoming Assembly polls. The former minister had contested from the Amritsar East assembly constituency.

The court, however, had said that it will not stop the proceedings against Majithia permanently. It had also asked the politician to apply for regular bail after surrendering.

He is currently lodged in Patiala jail, PTI reported.

The state government had submitted in court that the case against the former minister was related to international drug trafficking and that there were statements recorded by other accused persons in the case about money transactions that Majithia had allegedly mediated.