Mohali court issues arrest warrant against Punjab ex-DGP Sumedh Saini

Chandigarh, September 12

Mohali court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant against former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in connection with the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case.

The court has directed the police to produce Saini by September 25, according to the order.

Saini, the former Punjab director-general of police, continues to remain elusive despite the special investigation team of the Punjab Police conducting raids at several places to nab him.

Saini, whose whereabouts were still unknown, was booked in May in connection with the disappearance of Multani in 1991 when he was working as a junior engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday had dismissed Saini’s anticipatory bail plea in this matter.

The high court had also dismissed Saini’s second petition that sought quashing of an FIR in the case or the transfer of investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A Mohali court had dismissed his bail plea on September 1.

Last month, the police had added murder charge under Section 302 of the IPC in the FIR in Multani disappearance case after two former Chandigarh Police personnel — former UT police Inspector Jagir Singh and former ASI Kuldeep Singh who are also co-accused —turned approver in the disappearance case.

The Punjab Police on September 3 had claimed that Saini “absconded” while leaving behind the Z plus security allotted to him.

Saini had left his Chandigarh residence without Punjab Police security personnel and security vehicles, including a jammer vehicle.

Balwant Multani, who was a resident of Mohali, was picked up by the police after a terrorist attack on Saini, who was then the senior superintendent of police in Chandigarh, in 1991.

However, the police had later claimed that Balwant Multani had escaped from the custody of Qadian Police in Gurdaspur.

Saini and six others were booked on the complaint of Balwant Multani’s brother, Palwinder Singh Multani, who is a resident of Jalandhar.

The case was registered against them under Sections 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. PTI