Punjab Police have registered a case against their former DGP Sumedh Saini in a 29-year-old case of alleged kidnapping, torture, and “stage-managed elimination” of Balwant Singh Multani, son of IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani.
What is the case?
Sumedh Saini was the Chandigarh senior superintendent of police in 1991. Balwant Singh Multani was picked up by two officers along with Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar and two others. Later, the police claimed Multani escaped from the custody of Qadian (Gurdaspur) police.
FIR Registered
The FIR against Saini is based on a complaint filed by Multani’s brother Palwinder Singh Multani in Mohali Wednesday evening. Apart from Saini, seven other police personnel have been booked in the case along with an unknown person including DSP Baldev Singh Saini, Inspector Satvir Singh, SI Har Sahai Sharma, SI Jagir Singh, SI Anoop Singh and ASI Kuldip Singh..
The case has been registered under sections 364 (kidnap or abduction in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), and 344 (wrongful confinement of 10 or more days), of the IPC, among others.
CBI Evidence
A Central Bureau of Investigation probe was initiated in this case against Saini in 2007 on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court but it was later quashed by Supreme Court.
DENIED ENTRY TO HIMACHAL WITHOUT PASS
Hours after the FIR was registered against Saini and seven other cops at Mataur police station in Mohali district, Sumedh Saini and two others were denied entry into Himachal Pradesh through the Swarghat area in Bilaspur district on Thursday at 4 am.
Bilaspur SP Divakar Sharma told The Tribune that the former Punjab DGP had called him after the policemen posted at Swarghat border denied him entry as he did not have a valid pass. The retired officer said he wanted to visit Karsog.
Where is Sumedh Saini now?
None of the officials booked on Wednesday has been arrested so far. Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta and Mohali SSP Kuldeep Chahal were not available for comment despite repeated attempts.
A controversial officer
According to the FIR, a copy of which is with SinghStation, Palwinder Singh Multani has referred to a December 2015 cover story of Outlook magazine, where a former Punjab policeman, Gurmeet Singh alias Pinky, made purported disclosures about the conduct of state police during the days of the Khalistan militancy in Punjab.
Quoting Palwinder’s complaint, the FIR states that Pinky’s disclosure suggests Saini gruesomely tortured Multani in police custody. It was only after Saini’s retirement did the family gather the courage to again pursue the case against him, the complaint states.
According to Palwinder’s complaint, Multani was picked up from his phase 7 Mohali residence on 11 December 1991 and booked two days later under TADA.
The family has alleged that Multani was tortured to death but was shown as having escaped from custody from a police station in Qadian, Gurdaspur, a week after the case was registered against him.
It was due to the relentless efforts of Multani’s father Darshan Singh, who moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the matter, that the CBI registered a case against Saini in July 2008, the FIR states.
The CBI case was quashed by the Supreme Court on technical grounds in 2011 even as it gave the family the liberty to initiate fresh proceedings.
An IPS officer of the 1982 batch, Saini has had a controversial career. He served as Punjab DGP during the second term of Akali rule from 2012 to 2015.
However, before he could complete his term, Saini was removed by the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over what was seen as police’s shoddy handling of the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege protests. Two protesters had died in alleged police firing during the stir.
He retired in 2018 and lives in Chandigarh.