Chandigarh, Sep 25, 2020-
Seeking weithdrawal of an arrest warrant against him, former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini on Friday appeared before a Mohali court in the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case.
Saini told the court he was ready to join investigation after which the court issued a notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police, seeking its reply, and fixed September 30 as the next date of hearing.
Special Public Prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula said the former DGP, along with his counsel, appeared in the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Ravinder Kaur.
Saini pleaded that the Apex Court has granted him an interim protection from arrest in the case and the non-bailable warrant issued against him be withdrawn. He also said he was “ready and willing” to appear before the investigating agency and cooperate as and when required.
The former DGP filed the application two days after he failed to appear before the SIT for investigation at the Mataur police station in Mohali.
The arrest warrant against him was issued by the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Ravtesh Inderjit Singh on September 12. The court had then directed police to produce Saini by September 25.
Saini was booked in May in connection with the disappearance of Multani, a son of a former IAS officer of Punjab and a JE with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO).
Police had last month added the murder charge under Section 302 of the IPC in the case after former Chandigarh Police Inspector Jagir Singh and ex-ASI Kuldeep Singh, who are also co-accused, turned approvers.
Multani, a resident of Mohali, was picked by police after a terrorist attack on Saini, who was the then the senior superintendent of police in Chandigarh. Later, it was claimed that Multani had escaped from the custody of the Qadian police in Gurdaspur.
Saini and six others were booked on the complaint of Balwant Multani”s brother Palwinder Singh Multani, a resident of Jalandhar. Initially, the case was registered against them under Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 330 (voluntarily causes hurt), 344 (wrongful confinement) and 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) of the IPC.
Saini, a 1982-batch IPS officer, who was the youngest DGP in the country when he was appointed the state police chief in 2012, was removed from the post in 2015 after protests erupted following desecration of Sri Guru Grath Sahib. Saini retired in 2018.
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