Multani case: SC reserves its order on the accused DGP’s bail plea

Multani case: SC reserves its order on the accused DGP’s bail plea

Harshabab Sidhu
Nabaz-e-Punjab, Mohali, November 17;
The supreme court today has reserved its decision on the bail plea of Sumedh Saini, a well-known former DGP of Punjab, who is facing serious charges of the alleged murder of Balwant Singh Multani, a resident of Mohali and Junior Engineer (JE) of CITCO, three decades ago.
The Supreme Court today heard the case registered against Saini in Mohali’s Mataur police station for dismissal of same criminal case. Justice Ashok Bhushan, after hearing the arguments of former DGP’s counsel Siddharth Luthra and Punjab government’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi, upheld the earlier interim bail granted to Saini.
The former DGP, through his lawyer, has filed two separate petitions in the Supreme Court seeking fully dismissal of the criminal case registered against him at the Mataur police station and granting him permanent bail. The petition said that the criminal case registered against him in Mataur police station after 29 years was purely politically motivated. Earlier, the CBI had registered a criminal case on the complaint of the victim’s family and on the orders of the High Court, but the CBI could not present any concrete evidence against him due to which the Supreme Court had quashed the FIR registered against him by the National Investigation Agency. Now after a long time the Mohali Police has registered a case against him on old charges, reads the petition.
He demanded that the case against him be dismissed completely. Prosecutors have already claimed in court that the government and the Punjab police have strong evidence against Saini in the case. Therefore no relief should be given to him. Earlier, Saini had knocked on the door of the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking dismissal of the case but the High Court had dealt a major blow to him and dismissed his appeal outright. As a result, Saini has now approached the Supreme Court seeking relief. The apex court had issued notice to the Punjab government and the complainant asking them to file their reply within three weeks.