New Delhi, December 03, 2020: The Supreme Court on Thursday has allowed an anticipatory bail to former Punjab Police Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in the Balwant Singh Multani murder case.

The Supreme Court Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy, and M. R. Shah pronounced the verdict on Thursday that in case he (Sumedh Singh Saini) is arrested under 302 IPC, he will be allowed to release on bail bond of 1 lakh and 2 sureties. 

The Supreme Court Bench set aside the order of Punjab and Haryana HC by which it had rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by former Punjab DGP. 

In his plea filed through Advocate Misha Rohatgi, Saini had challenged the Punjab & Haryana High Court’s September 7 order dismissing his anticipatory bail plea in the Multani kidnapping and murder case.

Multani, a junior engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation, was allegedly picked up by the police in December 1991 after an attack on Saini that killed three policemen. Saini was injured in the attack.

In May this year, Saini was booked at a police station in Mohali along with six others for the alleged kidnapping of Multani in 1991. A murder charge was added in August after two of the accused policemen came clean about the incident.

Appearing for Saini, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had argued that the case against his client was due to political vendetta, as the former DGP had lodged cases against current Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had submitted that the illegal and malicious prosecution of his client should be stopped as one case after another was filed in the case and the root of the problem is that he had filed five criminal cases against the current Chief Minister of the state. Multani’s father had alleged that his son was tortured by Saini and others, while the state government argued that Multani had escaped.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi had submitted that in May this year, an FIR was lodged on the complaint of Multani’s brother and termed it a case of political vendetta. It was further argued that the Punjab government had no right in the matter as the alleged torture took place in 1991 in Sector 17 of Chandigarh, which is a Union territory.

Rohatgi complained that further cases were being registered against Saini, with the latest one in Faridkot for a firing that happened when he was a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in Chandigarh. It was also Saini's case that the Punjab government had no jurisdiction in the case as the alleged torture was in Sector 17 of Chandigarh, which is a Union Territory. "State cannot add Section 302 to FIR without leave of trial judge," Rohatgi added.

News Courtesy:PIB | Hindu| DC | LE | LI | LO | IE | LL | PTI |ht | ET | UNI | DNA | FP | Jurist |IndToday|

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