CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and seven other police personnel have been booked by the Punjab Police in a 29-year old case of the kidnapping of the son of a former IAS officer.
A case has been registered against former DGP Saini, DSP Baldev Singh, Sub-Inspectors Satbir Singh, Harsahai, Jagir Singh, Anoop Singh, and Kuldeep Singh on charges of kidnapping or abduction in order to murder, causing disappearance of evidence, wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt to exhort confession and criminal conspiracy at Mautaur Police Station in Mohali.
While Baldev Singh has long back retired as SP from Chandigarh Police and also Satbir Singh retired as DSP is dead now.
The case was registered on the complaint of Palwinder Singh Multani, son of the late IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani. The complainant said that his brother Balwant Singh Multani was "unlawfully abducted, inhumanly tortured and killed in the custody by Saini and the police personnel under his command in 1991”.
In the FIR (a copy of which is with the New Indian Express), the complainant further alleged that "My brother Balwant Singh Multani was employed as JE with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO) and was residing at H.no 1741 (First Floor) in Phase 7, Mohali (Punjab). At 4 am on December 11, 1991, a team of Chandigarh Police abducted him without providing any documents or reason for the act. My family tried to find out about his whereabouts but in vain. My father Late DS Multani, who was then serving as a Punjab cadre IAS officer, had made hue and cry in this regard."
"Due to his untiring efforts since 1991, a preliminary enquiry was conducted under the directions of Punjab and Haryana High Court which led to the registration of FIR dated-02-07-2008 under sections 120 (B), 364, 343,330, 167 and 193 of IPC by CBI at Chandigarh.
"The order passed by the high court was challenged in the supreme court and the apex court set aside the order passed by the high court on the ground that the bench of the high court passing the order lacked jurisdiction to deal with the case and as a consequence thereof, the FIR registered by the CBI based on these orders was quashed only on technical grounds. Simultaneously the Supreme Court had given us the liberty to take recourse to fresh proceedings," states the complaint in the FIR.
It further states, "his body was disposed of in order to destroy evidence and further cover-up manipulated by showing his escape from custody from police station Qadian in connivance with concerned Punjab Police personnel."
On the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2007, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe was initiated against Saini but later it was quashed by the Supreme Court.
At that time Saini was Senior Superintendent of Police of Chandigarh Police. Multani was picked up by two officers of Chandigarh Police after he came under a terrorist attack in which four policemen deployed for his security were killed.
Sources said that Saini is presently in Delhi. He had earlier tried to go to Himachal Pradesh but was denied entry into the hill state at Swarghat in Bilaspur district at 4 am on Thursday as he did not have a valid pass.
Saini was not available for comments despite several attempts made to reach out to him over the phone.