Punjab and Haryana high court orders release of Sumedh Singh Saini, says arrest violated earlier orders

CHANDIGARH/MOHALI: A day after former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini was arrested by the Punjab Police, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday directed the police to release him immediately. The high court, after a marathon hearing, held that Saini’s arrest was in violation of the earlier court orders dated October 11, 2018, and September 23, 2020, and anticipatory bail granted on August 12, 2021. The high court, however, made it clear that in the future if the investigating agency wants to arrest him, Saini can be arrested after giving him seven-day advance notice.
The high court was also of the view that the allegations made in FIR No. 11 and 13, registered against Saini are the same and the two FIRs could not be registered for the same cause of action.
Saini was arrested by the Punjab vigilance bureau on Wednesday night in relation to a corruption case.
Ex-DGP has sought transfer of probe to central agencies
Saini was taken into custody when he had visited the bureau office in Mohali to join the investigation in connection with another case registered against him.
Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of the high court passed these orders while hearing an ongoing petition filed by Saini seeking blanket bail. He had also argued that he may be falsely implicated in criminal cases on account of malice, malafide and ulterior motives attributed to the political party in power in Punjab.
Saini’s application filed through senior advocate APS Deol and advocate Jasdev Singh Mehandiratta also requested the court to keep any proposal for arresting him in any criminal matter in abeyance for a specific period of time so as to enable him to seek legal remedies.
Saini’s legal team briefed that despite directions having been given on September 23, 2020, Punjab officials were making attempts to arrest him by allegedly implicating him in false cases. Saini has also been seeking transfer of investigation of the cases registered against him to the CBI or any other independent agency.
The petition filed by Saini was pending for a long time and slated for a hearing on November 24. However, the plea was preponed for hearing by the HC on Thursday.
The case witnessed a marathon hearing on Thursday as after hearing for a few hours in the morning, the HC adjourned the matter for hearing at 3 pm. The hearing, however, continued for more than eight hours in the afternoon, and finally, the order was announced at around 11.30 pm. Earlier on Thursday morning, the HC had also sought complete details from the state government regarding Saini’s arrest, FIR, and other details about his arrest.