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Tribune News Service
Mohali, May 11
A local court on Monday released early bail to former Punjab police chief Sumedh Singh Saini, saying there was serious doubt about the FIR’s ability to maintain registered last week in a police kidnapping and torture case of 29 years.
Additional District and Session Judge Monika Goyal questioned the motivations that led to the FIR.
“It is most likely that (the FIR) is the result of political revenge, as the current applicant was instrumental in filing FIRs against high-ranking officials,” the court said.
The court also said that since the case was now over 29 years old and that Saini was willing to cooperate with investigators, there was no point in arresting him, especially at a time when the Supreme Court and higher courts were trying to decongest. prisons in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Saini and seven other police officers, some of them now retired, face criminal charges in a 29-year-old kidnapping case of the son of a former IAS officer.
“The purpose of the investigation will be sufficient if the applicant is directed to join the investigation and to cooperate appropriately. Therefore, the present is an adequate case in which you have the right to an early deposit, ”said Judge Goyal.
The court admitted that the accusations related to a heinous crime, but said that the only explanation that the tax agency and the plaintiff gave to delay the case was that Saini, being DGP, was highly influential, but took no action to proceed with the case. .
The court said that the High Court of Punjab and Haryana had ordered the CBI to investigate and that an FIR was filed on July 2, 2008. But the Supreme Court annulled it on December 7, 2011, saying that the plaintiff / prosecutor he was free to resort to new procedures permitted by law, but the Multani family took no action.
The court also noted that the plaintiff alleged that he learned the details of the torture and subsequent removal of his brother after reading an article in the magazine.
The matter was dated December 14, 2015. But the plaintiff did not take action until May 6, especially since Saini retired in June 2018, the court said.
“There is no explanation as to why the current plaintiff had been silent for so long, especially after June 2018 and had chosen this time, which is the COVID-19 outbreak when the entire State of Punjab is under curfew and He had traveled from Jalandhar during this time to perform an FIR accommodation act in the case of 29 years.
“COVID-19 had brought the strongest nations to their knees, but the current plaintiff, who has feared for the life and safety of his family since 1991, had chosen this time to file and file the FIR against the present applicant, before this, he had not taken any steps regarding the disappearance of his brother, “the court said.
Saini filed a request for early bail last Friday, two days after he and seven other police officers were jailed for the kidnapping, torture and managed removal on the Balwant Singh Multani stage.
Multani was the son of former IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani.
Saini and the others were registered under sections 364 (kidnapping or kidnapping for the purpose of murder), 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence), 344 (unlawful confinement), 330 (who caused damage on a voluntary basis to urge confession. ) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) based on a complaint by Balwant Multani’s brother, Palwinder Singh Multani, on Wednesday night.
Palwainder Singh Multani claims that the police abducted, tortured and killed his brother in police custody.
The victim Balwant Singh Multani was accused of carrying out an attack on Saini when he was the Chandigarh Senior Police Superintendent on December 11, 1991. He was hired along with Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, a convict in the bomb blast case. from Delhi. and two others, but the police later claimed that Balwant escaped from the custody of the Qadian (Gurdaspur) police.
The others who booked together with Saini are DSP Baldev Singh, Deputy Inspectors Satbir Singh, Harsahai, Jagir Singh, Anoop Singh and ASI Kuldeep Singh.
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