Multani abduction case: CBI deliberately not sharing documents, say Punjab Police

NEXT HEARING FOR FINAL ARGUMENTS IS ON JULY 20 WHEN THE CBI COURT IS EXPECTED TO PRONOUNCE ITS ORDER

CHANDIGARH: In its reply to the court of special magistrate for the CBI, the Punjab Police said the central probe agency was “deliberately” not sharing the documents related to the 1991 alleged abduction of Balwant Singh Multani, a case in which former Punjab director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini is an accused.

Multani, who worked as a junior engineer with the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO), was picked up allegedly by police after a terrorist attack on Saini, the then Chandigarh SSP. Later, the police claimed that Multani, son of a former IAS officer, had escaped from the police custody and his whereabouts were not known.

In the last hearing, the CBI had refused to share the status report, which was returned by Punjab and Haryana High Court to the investigating agency in 2016, saying it was an “internal communication” between the CBI and the court.

On Tuesday, seeking directions from the court to the CBI for handing over the documents, the Punjab Police said “status report is not an internal communication or privileged document between the high court and the CBI”.

The matter will now come up for hearing on July 20 for final arguments and the CBI court is expected to pronounce order in the matter.

On May 6, a case was registered against Saini and seven others in Mohali on a complaint from Multani’s brother Palwinder Singh.

On June 6, the Punjab Police moved an application in the CBI court, Chandigarh, seeking documents of the preliminary probe as the case was initially investigated by the CBI in 2007. In its reply, the CBI had said it preserves records only for five years.

On June 8, the police filed another application seeking the status report that the high court had returned to the investigating agency in 2016 which also had the documents with it.