Acting on the allegations levelled by former director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini of “witch-hunt” by the state government, the high court has sought details of FIRs registered against chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal and their associates.
The high court bench of justice Arun Kumar Tyagi also asked the state police to apprise the court of the present status of the cases, copies of orders passed by high court on petitions filed by the accused named in those cases seeking court’s intervention and demanding advance notice prior to their arrest.
Orders passed by the Supreme Court on pleas filed and brief statement of proceedings regarding arrest, bail and final orders passed in such cases be placed on record, the court directed. The court asked the government to place on record copies of relevant documents in these cases and also gave an opportunity to other parties to provide relevant record, pertaining to these cases.
The court said that since Saini is seeking transfer of investigation of cases registered against him to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any other independent agency, Punjab should file an affidavit of the officer concerned giving details of the cases in which investigation regarding the involvement of Saini is pending. All these details have been sought by April 6. The order was passed during resumed hearing of 2018 plea on March 16, but released now.
The 2018 plea was filed by Saini seeking direction to Punjab to transfer probe in criminal cases registered against him to the CBI and giving notice of specified period before his arrest. “The prayer for the above said reliefs is based on the grounds of mala fides on the part of Amarinder Singh and members of ruling party and apprehension of false implication and arrest of the petitioner on accusation of having committed non-bailable offence by Punjab Police on the basis of some tainted investigation,” HC summarises the allegations of Saini in the order.
{{/usCountry}}The 2018 plea was filed by Saini seeking direction to Punjab to transfer probe in criminal cases registered against him to the CBI and giving notice of specified period before his arrest. “The prayer for the above said reliefs is based on the grounds of mala fides on the part of Amarinder Singh and members of ruling party and apprehension of false implication and arrest of the petitioner on accusation of having committed non-bailable offence by Punjab Police on the basis of some tainted investigation,” HC summarises the allegations of Saini in the order.
{{/usCountry}}In the in 2018 plea, the HC asked Punjab government to serve a seven-day notice to Saini in the event of government initiating criminal proceedings against him. The 2018 plea claims that during Saini’s stint as head of state vigilance, a number of criminal cases were registered against Amarinder and his family members, citing example of FIRs in Ludhiana City Centre scam, Amritsar Improvement Trust scam and one against Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, adviser to the CM, and Amarinder’s son Raninder Singh.
Since he is seen as the man behind starting criminal proceedings against the present CM and his “coterie”, state’s agencies have become “persecuting agencies” instead of “prosecuting agencies”, the plea alleges.