Chandigarh: Former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini on Friday appeared before a Mohali court, seeking withdrawal of an arrest warrant against him and said he is ready to join investigation in the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case.
The court issued a notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Punjab Police, seeking its reply, and fixed September 30 as the next date of hearing.
The former DGP, along with his counsel, appeared in the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Ravinder Kaur, said Special Public Prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula.
Saini said in his application that the Supreme Court has granted him an interim protection from arrest in the case and the non-bailable warrant issued against him be withdrawn.
Saini also said he was ready and willing to appear before the investigating agency and cooperate as and when required.
The former state chief filed the application two days after he failed to appear before the SIT for investigation at the Mataur police station in Mohali.
The arrest warrant against him was issued by the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Ravtesh Inderjit Singh on September 12.
The court had then directed police to produce Saini by September 25.
The former DGP was booked in May in connection with the disappearance of Multani, a junior engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation.
Police had last month added the murder charge under Section 302 of the IPC in the case after former Chandigarh Police Inspector Jagir Singh and ex-ASI Kuldeep Singh, who are also co-accused, turned approvers.
Saini, a 1982-batch IPS officer, was the youngest DGP in the country when he was appointed the state police chief in 2012.
He was removed from the post in 2015 after protests erupted following desecration of religious texts. Saini retired in 2018.
Multani, a resident of Mohali, was picked by police after a terrorist attack on Saini, who was the then the senior superintendent of police in Chandigarh.
Later, it was claimed that Multani, son of a former IAS officer, had escaped from the custody of the Qadian police in Gurdaspur.
Saini and six others were booked on the complaint of Balwant Multani’s brother Palwinder Singh Multani, a resident of Jalandhar.
Initially, the case was registered against them under Sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 330 (voluntarily causes hurt), 344 (wrongful confinement) and 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) of the IPC.
Subscribe to our channels on YouTube & Telegram
Why news media is in crisis & How you can fix it
You are reading this because you value good, intelligent and objective journalism. We thank you for your time and your trust.
You also know that the news media is facing an unprecedented crisis. It is likely that you are also hearing of the brutal layoffs and pay-cuts hitting the industry. There are many reasons why the media’s economics is broken. But a big one is that good people are not yet paying enough for good journalism.
We have a newsroom filled with talented young reporters. We also have the country’s most robust editing and fact-checking team, finest news photographers and video professionals. We are building India’s most ambitious and energetic news platform. And have just turned three.
At ThePrint, we invest in quality journalists. We pay them fairly. As you may have noticed, we do not flinch from spending whatever it takes to make sure our reporters reach where the story is.
This comes with a sizable cost. For us to continue bringing quality journalism, we need readers like you to pay for it.
If you think we deserve your support, do join us in this endeavour to strengthen fair, free, courageous and questioning journalism. Please click on the link below. Your support will define ThePrint’s future.