2015 NDPS Case: ‘Won’t Proceed with Trial of Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira

The Punjab government informed the Supreme Court that it will not proceed with the trial of Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a 2015 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case for the time being.

Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing the Punjab government, informed a bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal that he has been instructed to convey that the state will suspend the trial against Khaira until the next hearing of his plea.

The bench then scheduled the matter for a hearing after four weeks. Khaira had filed a plea challenging the January 4 ruling of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which upheld his arrest in the 2015 drugs case in September last year.

Dave requested time to respond to the Congress leader’s petition, which was granted. Senior advocate PS Patwalia and advocate Nikhil Jain, representing Khaira, opposed Dave’s request for time and urged the court to stay the proceedings before the trial court in the drugs case until the next hearing.

Patwalia pointed out that despite notice being issued, the state government had yet to file its response to Khaira’s plea. He noted that the state police had filed the chargesheet in the drugs haul case on January 20, and the trial court proceedings were ongoing.

The bench then informed Dave that either the state government should declare that it will not proceed with the case for the time being or the High Court should order a stay on the proceedings before the trial court. Dave, acting on the government’s instructions, stated that the state will refrain from proceeding with the trial against Khaira until the next hearing in the apex court.

Khaira was granted bail by the high court on January 4 in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Arms Act case filed in 2015 but was subsequently arrested in a new case related to alleged criminal intimidation. Khaira challenged his arrest in the 2015 case in the high court, labeling it as “political vendetta” orchestrated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the state.

The Punjab government later appealed against the bail granted to Khaira in the 2015 case before the Supreme Court, which declined to revoke the relief.

The drugs case was registered in March 2015 in Jalalabad, Fazilka. Nine individuals, including Gurdev Singh, reportedly a close associate of Khaira, were implicated and convicted. The police confiscated two kg of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, a homemade pistol, a .315 bore pistol, and two Pakistani SIM cards from them. On January 15, a local court in Kapurthala district of Punjab granted bail to Khaira in the criminal intimidation case.