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DISAPPEARANCE CASE: Ex-Punjab DGP Saini’s interim bail extended till July 8
The case was registered against Saini on May 6 this year
MOHALI
The court additional district and sessions judge Sanjay Agnihotri on Monday extended the interim bail of former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini till July 8 in the case pertaining to the disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani, a Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) employee, in 1991. The case was registered against Saini on May 6 this year.
The hearing was held in the duty court of Agnihotri as the main judge, Rajnish Garg, was on leave.
Citing that the case hearing was transferred to the court of Garg and as the court was not functioning today, the case was heard in the court of duty magistrate, so by the consent of counsels of defence and prosecution, the case hearing be put forth the transferee court of ADJ Garg and the interim bail orders may continue till July 8.
Upholding the arguments given by the special public prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula, the district and sessions judge Rajinder Singh Rai on July 4 allowed the application seeking transfer of the case from additional district and sessions judge Monika Goyal’s court and assigned to the court of ADJ Rajnish Garg.
The decision on quashing the anticipatory bail under Section 302 of the IPC will also come up for hearing in the court of ADJ Rajnish Garg.
In the previous hearing, Narula had argued that the ADJ’s court had ignored the facts and gravity of the offense while discussing the merits of the case and the interim bail has been granted in a blanket manner.
Narula said that prosecution has been pressing that in the enthusiasm to grant the anticipatory bail to former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, the court of ADJ unduly diluted the considerations that were required to imminently be considered.
“Now, we will present the statement of eyewitness Gursharan Kaur Mann, which she recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC corroborating illegal detention and inhuman torture of Balwant Singh Mulatani at the hands of Saini while seeking cancelation of interim bail granted in anticipation of involving 320 of the IPC,” said Narula.
Multani was allegedly picked up by two officers in 1991 after a terrorist attack on Saini, the then Chandigarh SSP, in which four policemen in his security posse were killed. The police later claimed that Multani had escaped from the custody of the Qadian police.
Former DSP Baldev Singh Saini, inspector Satvir Singh, sub-inspectors Har Sahai Sharma, Jagir Singh and Anoop Singh and ASI Kuldip Singh were also named in the case.
