HC grants blanket anticipatory bail to ex-Punjab Police chief Sumedh Singh Saini

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted a blanket anticipatory bail to former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini, who is accused in connection with a case related to the alleged abduction and murder of junior engineer Balwant Singh Multani in 1991.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday granted a blanket anticipatory bail to former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini, who is accused in connection with a case related to the alleged abduction and murder of junior engineer Balwant Singh Mult in 1991.

The bench of the High Court directed that a week's notice will have to be served before making an arrest in any new cases registered in connection with his service and issued a notice to the Punjab government seeking its response in the matter.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted interim relief to Saini in connection with the case related to the alleged abduction and murder of Mult.

Saini, a 1982-batch IPS officer, who was the youngest DGP in the country, was booked along with six others on May 6 this year at Mataur police station in Mohali for the alleged kidnapping of Mult, wrongful confinement, among other charges in 1991.

Later in August, a murder charge was added to the FIR, after two co-accused turned approvers, and in their statement, claimed to be witnesses to the torture meted out to Mult, under the custody of former DGP Saini, who was then the SSP of Chandigarh.

Mult worked with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (Citco) and was picked up by the police after a terrorist attack on Saini, who was then Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police. Saini was injured in the attack and three policemen were killed.

( With inputs from ANI )