SC dismisses plea of Punjab govt against bail to Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal of the Punjab government against a high court order granting bail to Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in the 2015 NDPS Act case.

A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and KV Viswanathan said it is not inclined to interfere with the January 4 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The bench told senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the Punjab government, that though the allegations are serious against Khaira but in the facts and circumstances of the case, it would not interfere with the high court order.

Khaira, MLA from Bholath assembly constituency, was granted bail by the high court but was arrested in a fresh one related to criminal intimidation.

He was arrested in September in connection with the 2015 case, triggering accusations of political vendetta against the state's ruling AAP from the Congress.

He had been seeking bail after his alleged role in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case surfaced during probe by a special investigation team.

The drugs case was registered in March 2015 at Jalalabad in Fazilka. Nine people, including Gurdev Singh -- allegedly a close aide of Khaira -- were booked in connection with the case and later convicted.

The police had seized two kg of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, a country-made 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.