Multani disappearance case: High court judge separates himself from the hearing of Saini’s anticipatory bail

Multani disappearance case: High court judge separates himself from the hearing of Saini’s anticipatory bail

Harshabab Sidhu
Nabaz-e-Punjab, Mohali, September 4:
The plight of former DGP Sumedh Saini, who is facing serious charges of abducting Balwant Singh Multani, son of a former IAS officer of Punjab and a junior engineer (JE) of CITCO, 29 years ago, was exacerbated today. A special judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court adjourned the hearing on his anticipatory bail application. Saini had recently approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail and the case was taken up in the court of High Court Judge Subir Sehgal for hearing, but today the judge abruptly withdrew from the Saini case.
It is learned that the judge concerned has separated himself from the case and forwarded the case file of Saini’s anticipatory bail to the Chief Justice of the High Court for further action. The case will now be transferred to another court by the Chief Justice in the next one or two days. It is said that the hearing will be shifted to another bench on Monday. Earlier, a High Court judge had distanced himself from hearing a petition seeking dismissal of the case registered against Saini at Mohali’s Mataur police station. Former DGP Sumedh Saini had filed a petition in the High Court seeking immediate dismissal of the criminal case registered against him in Mohali.
Meanwhile, Sumedh Saini has suddenly gone into hiding by leaving Z plus security for fear of his arrest which is considered as a violation of court orders. Meanwhile, Mohali police teams were conducting raids at various places in search of Saini but no officer was ready to open his mouth. An official said on condition of anonymity that yesterday and today, 7-8 teams of police were conducting raids in various parts of North India including Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. But so far, the police have not received any concrete clues about Saini’s presence. The official said that the mobile phone of the former DGP was also being switched off. Police are constantly tracking down the phone location to track down Saini.
It may be recalled here that the Mohali District Court had recently rejected the anticipatory bail application of the former DGP in a major blow. The court believes that there are very serious allegations against him (Saini). In this case, police investigation and interrogation of the accused is very important. Due to which Saini’s bail cannot be accepted under any circumstances. Pardeep Singh Virk, counsel for the victim’s family, demanded that a separate case be registered against Saini for violating the court order and that the former DGP be declared a fugitive. He said that if Saini had not done anything wrong then why he was hiding now instead of facing police investigation.