MOHALI COURT ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS AGAINST SAINI
Orders issued after SIT failed to arrest the former top cop despite conducting raids at various places, including neighbouring states
MOHALI: A Mohali court on Saturday issued arrest warrants (non-bailable warrants) against former Punjab director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in connection with the Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case of 1991.
Mohali judicial magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh directed the police to arrest Saini and produce him in court by September 25.
MOHALI: A Mohali court on Saturday issued arrest warrants (non-bailable warrants) against former Punjab director general of police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in connection with the Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case of 1991.
Mohali judicial magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh directed the police to arrest Saini and produce him in court by September 25.
The orders were issued after the special investigation team (SIT) failed to arrest Saini despite conducting raids at various places, including neighbouring states, and moved court “to get assistance” from police of other states and districts to arrest Saini.
Special public prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula said: “The arrest warrants were sought from the court because police from other states was not cooperating with the SIT in search and arrest procedures taken up by police teams.”
In its application, the SIT stated that daily diary reports (DDR) have been registered at police station Hauz Khas, South Delhi, police station, Sadar Shimla, police post Pangana in Mandi, police station, north Chandigarh, police station, Sector 19, Chandigarh, and police station, Tanda near Hoshiarpur.
“Perusal of the DDRs revealed that due to lack of arrest warrants, there is an obstacle in getting assistance from the police at various police stations by raiding party from Mohali. Thus application is allowed for facilitating arrest of Saini, who is evading arrest,” observed the court in its order of issuing non-bailable warrants.
Recently, the former DGP moved the Supreme Court after Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. Saini was booked in May this year in connection with the disappearance of Multani, a junior engineer at Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (Citco) in 1991. Last month, the police had added the murder charge in the FIR after two former Chandigarh Police personnel, who were co-accused in the case, turned approver.
Multani, a resident of Mohali, was picked up by the police after a terrorist attack on Saini when he was the senior superintendent of police in Chandigarh in 1991. The police later claimed that Multani had escaped from custody at Qadian in Gurdaspur district.
Saini and six others were booked on the complaint of Balwant Singh Multani’s brother Palwinder Singh Multani, a resident of Jalandhar.
The case was registered against them under Sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 344 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causes hurt) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Mataur police station in Mohali.
Meanwhile, the SIT and Punjab Police are continuously conducting raids in neighbouring states, including Haryana, Himachal, Chandigarh and Rajasthan to apprehend Saini.
Perusal of DDRs reveals due to lack of arrest warrants, there is an obstacle in getting help from police at various places by the raiding party.
MOHALI COURT, in its order