Order on bail plea of former DGP Saini reserved for tomorrow

MOHALI : The court of additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) Rajnish Garg on Thursday reserved its orders on the anticipatory bail petition of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini for August 29 for staying his arrest. The case involves the disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani, a CITCO, employee.

The judge has not passed any orders on the interim stay on the arrest of the EX-DGP. Special public prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula said this meant that Saini could be arrested, as the stay on his arrest ended on Thursday.

Saini had been granted interim protection by the court of ADJ Sanjay Agnihotri, who the was duty judge in the absence of designated court of ADJ Garg. Saini faces arrest on the charges of murdering Multani after the SIT added Section 302 (murder) of the IPC to the FIR, when two co-accused turned approvers.

In previous orders, ADJ Garg had ordered the SIT to give threeday prior notice to Saini, after adding murder sections to the FIR. The three-day notice ended at 6pm on August 24 and before that Saini had filed an application seeking anticipatory bail.

Narula added, “We have contested in support of our demand to dismiss the interim bail application on the grounds that the prosecution now has three eyewitnesses of inhumane torture to the third degree rendered to Multani at the behest of then SSP UT police Saini, after which he died. Earlier, an advocate GK Mann has also deposed against Saini as an eyewitness to torturing Multani.”

Senior advocate and counsel for Saini, APS Deol contested this, stating that in this case, which was registered after 29 years, the EX-DSP had already been granted anticipatory baila number of times and that his custodial interrogation due to the added offence was not required.