Can’t share status report, it’s ‘internal communication’ with HC, says CBI

CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reiterated its statement that it cannot share any records with the Punjab Police in connection with a 1991 case of alleged abduction and fake encounter of Balwant Singh Multani, involving former Punjab director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini.

The CBI also questioned the territorial jurisdiction of the application moved by the Punjab Police and refused to share the status report, saying it was an “internal communication” between the CBI and the high court. The case will now come up for hearing on July 14 when the Punjab Police will file a reply.

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.

Last month, 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 stated that though it registered an FIR on the directions of high court and conducted a preliminary inquiry, but the FIR was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2011. As the CBI keeps records of old cases only for five years, it weeded out the same. On June 8, the police filed another application, submitting that in 2016, the High Court had returned a status report to the investigating agency, which also included the documents, which they now want in the wake of an FIR.

On Wednesday, in its reply with regard to the additional application moved by the Punjab Police, the CBI told the CBI court that it “does not possess any record” with regard to the case. With regard to the status report, the CBI stated that, firstly, it is “not traceable” and, secondly, it’s “internal communication” between the investigating agency and the high court and cannot be shared.

The CBI also raised questions on the territorial jurisdiction of the application moved by the Punjab Police in the Chandigarh CBI court. It questioned the rationale behind Punjab Police filing applications in Chandigarh CBI court when the FIR was registered in Mohali.