Taking note that there was “something amiss” in certain records used in the cross-examination of a witness in the 1994 triple murder case in which Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini is an accused, a Delhi court has allowed the CBI’s plea to examine the original orders passed by the Chandigarh Debt Recovery Tribunal in connection with the case.
The records -- orders in a 1996 civil case – had been put before Ashish Kumar, the complainant in the present criminal case. These records had allegedly been tampered with by Saini, the investigating agency had submitted in an application before Special Judge (PC Act) AK Mendiratta.
The court said it was convinced that on the face of it, there appeared to be three different orders passed in a single case on the same day. These “could not have been passed on the same date and there appears to be something amiss in case different orders stood passed,” it said. However, “only after production of the same (originals), can this court reach any finding in case the records… are inconsistent or had been tampered,” it added.
Special public prosecutor YK Saxena, during cross-examination of prosecution witness and complainant Ashish Kumar, a relative of the victims, submitted before the court that the certified copies of documents put to the witness during cross-examination on behalf of accused Saini “appear to be tampered, and necessary steps be taken as deemed fit and proper in the interest of justice”. The CBI’s application was vehemently opposed by the counsel for the accused saying it was misuse of process of law and was not maintainable.
{{/usCountry}}Special public prosecutor YK Saxena, during cross-examination of prosecution witness and complainant Ashish Kumar, a relative of the victims, submitted before the court that the certified copies of documents put to the witness during cross-examination on behalf of accused Saini “appear to be tampered, and necessary steps be taken as deemed fit and proper in the interest of justice”. The CBI’s application was vehemently opposed by the counsel for the accused saying it was misuse of process of law and was not maintainable.
{{/usCountry}}The case pertains to the alleged involvement of Saini, the then SSP of Ludhiana, in the kidnapping and murder of three persons -- Vinod Kumar, Ashok Kumar and their driver Mukhtiar Singh -- in Ludhiana in 1994.
The CBI has alleged that the three men were murdered at the behest of Saini who had hatched a conspiracy in connivance with other accused policemen Sukh Mohinder Singh Sandhu, Paramjit Singh and Balbir Chand Tiwari to settle a personal score against the owners of Saini Motors, an automobile dealership in Punjab. Vinod and Ashok were chief financiers to Saini Motors.
The case was registered against Saini and others on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court and was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court in 2004.