E-Paper
Punjab vigilance bureau to file recall petition in HC against ex-DGP’s release order
Will file a similar plea against court’s bail order in disproportionate assets case against the former top cop
The Punjab vigilance bureau on Saturday announced to file a recall petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the August 19 release orders of former director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in a land fraud case.
The bureau will file a similar plea against the court’s August 12 interim bail order in the disproportionate assets case registered against the former top cop.
Saini was arrested on August 18 evening in the land fraud case when he went to the vigilance office in connection with the disproportionate assets FIR on the HC orders giving him interim bail on the condition that he join the probe within 7 days.
A bureau spokesperson said that Saini failed to follow the HC orders in letter and spirit as he chose to visit the VB office late in the evening on the last day of the 7-day period. “Saini intentionally exhausted the 7-day period during which he had to join the probe in accordance with interim order in the FIR no. 13. Even then, he arrived at the bureau’s Sector 68 office in Mohali without intimating the investigating officer in advance. In fact, he intentionally did not go to the investigating officer’s office,” said the spokesperson.
Under these circumstances, the bureau had thus decided to file a petition in the court seeking recall of the interim bail orders in the disproportionate assets case, he added.
The case relates to 35 properties and bank accounts of public works department executive engineer Nimratdeep Singh with transactions of ₹100 crore, including some with Saini.
The spokesperson said there is sufficient ground to seek recall of the HC orders releasing Saini from detention in the land fraud case. “First, Saini had been taken into custody not under FIR 13 (where he got interim bail) but in the FIR 11, in which he had no protection from arrest. The criminal acts in FIR 11 and FIR 13 are different,” he added.
Second, the HC’s earlier protection orders dated October 11, 2018 and September 23, 2020, do not apply to this particular case as those had provided for 7 days’ notice to be given to the officer before arresting him for any offences committed during his service period, the spokesperson claimed.
