Hours after cops raid EX-DGP Saini’s houses, court extends stay on arrest
MULTANI CASE Stay application heard without keeping me in the loop, says Punjab’s special public prosecutor
CHANDIGARH/MOHALI/SHIMLA: Even as Punjab Police teams early Friday morning raided the properties owned by former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in Chandigarh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, he was granted interim bail later in the day by a Mohali court in connection with the disappearance-cum-murder of Balwant Singh Multani, a Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) employee in 1991.
Section 302 (murder) of the IPC was added to the first information report against the former Punjab Police chief after two co-accused former cops turned approvers.
Around 10am, the court of additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) Rajnish Garg put a stay on the arrest till the final orders are pronounced in the case.
The next date of hearing has been fixed for September 1.
Special public prosecutor (SPP), Punjab, Sartej Singh Narula said the stay application was heard without keeping him in the loop.
“On a fresh application filed by accused Sumedh Singh Saini, the case was taken up today without notice to the state. The order was passed ignoring the grounds seeking custodial interrogation of the accused filed by me in the court on Thursday. Ex-parte order granting interim bail passed by additional sessions judge Rajneesh Garg is a U-turn from his own decision the previous day.”
Saini’s counsel APS Deol said: “In the orders on Thursday, the court missed the extension of the stay of arrest. Today, we approached the court, following which it stayed the arrest till the final orders in the case are pronounced.”
On Thursday, the court reserved its orders on Saini’s anticipatory bail petition for August 29.
In previous orders, Garg had ordered the SIT to give threeday notice to Saini, after adding murder sections to the FIR.
The three-day notice ended at 6pm on August 24 and before that Saini filed an application for anticipatory bail.
Multani was allegedly picked up by two officials in 1991 after a terrorist attack on Saini, in which four policemen deputed in his security were killed.
The police later claimed that Multani had escaped from its custody in Qadian, Gurdaspur.
Former DSP Baldev Singh,
Satvir Singh, a former inspector, Har Sahai Sharma, Anokh Singh, a former sub-inspector, besides Jagir and Kuldip Singh were named in the case.
SEARCHES AT SAINI’S CHANDIGARH, MOHALI, SHIMLA HOUSES
A special investigation team (SIT), led by superintendent of police (SP) Harmandeep Singh Hans, raided the residences of Saini in Chandigarh and Mohali early on Friday.
The raids were conducted at Saini’s residences in Sector 20, Chandigarh, and his farmhouse in Mohali but the SIT returned empty-handed.
Also, teams of Punjab Police also raided the houses of Saini in two different localities in Shimla and a farm house in Mandi district.
A team raided a flat owned by him in Keleston locality, three kilometers from the Mall Road, and also questioned the caretaker of the flat who is said to be a relative of Saini.
The six-member team also questioned locals in the neighborhood to gather information about Saini’s whereabouts. Police teams also searched a flat in Strawberry Hill locality in Chotta Shimla.
A team also raided a farmhouse in Mandi district’s Karsog.