Amritsar, June 2 -- Punjab Police on Monday issued a lookout circular against senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia after he and his 60 odd associates allegedly stormed into the Majitha police station on Sunday morning to forcibly free a detained party worker from police custody. A lookout circular (LOC) has been issued against Majithia to prevent him from leaving the country, a senior police officer confirmed, not wishing to be named. A special investigation team (SIT) has also been formed after booking the Akali leader and his associates under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for assaulting or using criminal force against a public servant to deter them from performing their official duties and obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions, apart from Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act. Earlier in the day, police teams conducted simultaneous raids at the Amritsar and Chandigarh residences of Majithia and his associates. The raid at his Green Avenue house in Amritsar began around 9.30 am, while parallel searches were reportedly carried out at his Chandigarh residence. But the former MLA was not present during the raids. The crackdown follows an alleged clash on Sunday stemming from the recent Majitha municipal council elections, which had already seen violence between SAD and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers. According to Amritsar Rural SSP Sohail Mir Qasim, police had arrested SAD polling agent Jobanpreet Singh of Sohian Kalan on Saturday in connection with an FIR registered on May 30 for chaos during counting of votes for the Majitha municipal council the day before. While investigators were questioning him, he said a mob of 50 to 60 people, allegedly led by Majithia, turned up, forced their way into the station and began searching rooms. The SSP said the mob located the interrogation room and forcibly took Jobanpreet out of custody. When DSP Kamalmeet Singh Randhawa intervened to explain that the arrest followed due process, the crowd allegedly assaulted the police personnel and attempted to snatch the station house officer's mobile phone. Though police managed to wrestle the suspect back into custody, the mob continued to create a ruckus on the premises and raised slogans, Qasim said. "So, we registered a case against nearly 50-60 persons. Of them, seven have been identified. Police are conducting raids at different places to arrest them," the SSP said, adding, "No person has right to break law and prevent the public servants from performing their duty." Videos showing a confrontation between Majithia's supporters and police personnel are circulating on social media. Maintaining that no one is above the law regardless of political stature, the SSP confirmed that Majithia and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member Jodh Singh Samra, who accompanied him, remained at large. While the police maintain the raids are a lawful response to violence, the SAD leadership has strongly condemned the action, characterising it as political harassment and state repression following the local body elections. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the police action against Majithia was political vendetta. He claimed that one day prior to the revelation that a SAD worker had been apprehended, AAP leader Talbir Gill forcibly freed his worker from police custody. "However no action was taken against Gill even as Bikram Majithia is being targeted," he alleged. Bathinda MP and Majithia's sister Harsimrat Kaur Badal also slammed the AAP government over the police action. "The person who injured one of our Akali workers was taken out from a police station by the AAP Majitha in-charge, and no action was taken against him. But in the case of someone held illegally at the SHO's residence without an FIR, an FIR was registered against Majithia when he was rescued," Harsimrat, wife of Sukhbir Singh Badal, told reporters here. Mukhwant Singh, father of Jobanpreet Singh, has approached the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the arrest of his son and alleging illegal detention by the Punjab Police. In his petition, he has sought directions to the Punjab government, director general of police (DGP), Amritsar Rural senior superintendent of police (SSP), Majitha deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and Majitha station house officer (SHO) to produce the detainee, Jobanpreet, before the court and release him from what has been termed as illegal and unconstitutional custody. The petitioner has also sought a declaration that the arrest of Jobanpreet Singh in the May 30 FIR was illegal, void and unconstitutional. Additionally, directions have been sought for the preservation and production of all video recordings, CCTV footage and other electronic evidence relating to the arrest and detention. Counsel for the petitioner submitted before the court that Jobanpreet was arrested around 5.30 am on May 31 without being furnished written grounds of arrest, in violation of Article 22(1) of the Constitution of India and the law laid down by the Supreme Court in various judgments. It was further argued that when the detainee was produced before the duty magistrate at Amritsar, the state conceded that no notice under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) had been issued and that no written grounds of arrest had been supplied to him. After hearing the matter, the single bench of justice Shalini Singh Nagpal issued notice to the respondents, seeking responses on or before the next hearing on June 2....