SAD leader Majithia Out of Jail; BJP’s Modi & Puri in Epstein Files

On 3 Feb, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Panjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia walked out of Nabha Jail where he was lodged since his arrest in June 2025 in a disproportionate assets case investigated by the Panjab Vigilance Bureau. The Supreme Court of India has granted him bail. Just before his release, the head of Dera (sect) Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh Dhillon met Majithia and declared, ‘The cases against him are false.’ SAD cheering their leader is natural but Panjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Sunil Jhakkar has supported Dhillon as have other leaders from the party which points to some agreement between the two political parties. Meanwhile, former Indian National Congress (INC) Panjab Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (21 Nov 1996–11 Feb 1997) in a controversial statement alleged that, 'I was made an offer by some government officials to create terror in the state to intimidate the public. The fear mongering could get me votes.' Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said the statement is a reflection of the INC party’s 'real character'. However, no political party used this allegation to question the role of the state in the violence carried out in Panjab in the 1990s. Concurrently, suspended INC  leader Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of INC leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has formally quit the party saying that ‘no promising leader was being heard'. Meanwhile, the US Justice Department made public emails along with thousands of files linked to the convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The documents reveal a communication trail and meetings between BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri, currently India's union minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, between June 2014–June 2017. A fragment of an email, attributed to Epstein, mentions BJP leader Narender Modi’s 2017 visit to Israel. The fragment says, ‘The Indian Prime Minister Modi took advice and danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the US President (Trump). They had met a few weeks ago. It worked!’ INC Member of Parliament Manickam Tagore has submitted an Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) seeking an urgent discussion on the issue (earlier coverage).