The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday arrested Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia for allegedly laundering more than Rs 540 crore of alleged “drug money”, the Hindustan Times reported.

The former state minister was arrested after vigilance officers conducted a raid at his Amritsar home.

A first information report was registered in the matter based on an investigation into a drug case conducted by a Special Investigation Team, the Hindustan Times reported. The SIT had uncovered the alleged money-laundering operation involving more than Rs 540 crore.

Assets in the names of Majithia and his wife, an MLA, had increased substantially, for which no legitimate sources of income were provided, PTI quoted a bureau spokesperson as saying.

Majithia was booked under sections of the 1988 Prevention of Corruption Act pertaining to criminal misconduct by a public servant, according to the Hindustan Times.

Section 13(1)(b), one of the provisions he was booked under, pertains to offences in which a public servant dishonestly or fraudulently misappropriates or converts a property under their control as a public servant for personal use.

The case stems from the findings of an investigation into a 2021 drug case registered against Majithia. The former minister was arrested in the earlier case in February 2022 and was granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2022.

The 2021 case against him was registered under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. The prosecutors have alleged that Majithia provided logistical and financial support to persons involved in a drug-trafficking racket, the Hindustan Times reported.

On Wednesday, Majithia said that the raid conducted at his home “shows the arrogance” of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal, the chief of the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party.

The AAP government was flouting the law, Majithia said on social media.

SAD claims ‘political vendetta’

SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and several party leaders criticised the state government and claimed that the allegations against Majithia were “political vendetta”.

Registering false cases is a criminal act, Sukhbir Badal said on social media.

“Officers should know that inquiries into all such false cases and acts of suppression committed during this government’s tenure will surely be conducted at the appropriate time,” he said. “I urge the police personnel not to break the law, as the change of guard is just one and a half year away.”

Former Union minister and SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the developments were an attempt to “suppress the voice of truth”.

Majithia is the brother of Harsimrat Kaur Badal and brother-in-law of Sukhbir Singh Badal.