New Delhi: As per the media reports the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha and senior leader of Punjab unit of Aam Adami Party (AAP) Sukhpal Singh Khaira here on Friday was granted a big relief by the Supreme Court of India (SCI) by halting the proceedings before a trial court in a 2015 trans-border drug smuggling case.
A court in Fazilka, Punjab had issued fresh summons on November 30 to Khaira to appear on December 21 in the case.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana and S Abdul Nazeer issued notice on his plea challenging the verdict of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had dismissed his petition to quash the summons.
“Issue notice to the standing counsel for the State of Punjab. There shall be stay of further proceedings before the trial court,” the bench reportedly said while quashing the summons.
The Fazilka court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Sukhpal Singh Khaira in the drug case, following which he had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court which had quashed the warrant and directed the trial court to decide the matter on merit.
However, his plea seeking to quash the trial court summons was rejected by the high court on November 17, with AAP leader saying it was a case of political vendetta. On November 30, Fazilka court had issued fresh summons to Khaira and four other accused asking them to appear on December 21 to record their statements under the NDPS Act. reads a quote from a report published in an English vernacular.
The Fazilka court had on October 31 sentenced nine persons to imprisonment in the trans-border heroin smuggling racket which had surfaced in 2015, notes Outlook India in its report.