Mohali, July 16 -- A Mohali court on Tuesday restrained the Punjab Vigilance Bureau from conducting arbitrary searches at the properties of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is in judicial custody in an alleged Rs.540-crore disproportionate assets case.

Acting on a plea filed by Majithia's counsel Arshdeep Singh Kler on Tuesday, the court directed that any visit to the SAD leader's premises by the vigilance bureau must be solely for evaluation purposes and only after providing prior notice to his legal counsel.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Kler claimed that although the court had permitted the investigating officer (IO) to visit Majithia's premises, the officer instead dispatched vigilance teams to ...