Disappearance case: Punjab Police asks ex-DGP Saini to join probe on Monday

The Punjab Police on Sunday summoned former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini to join investigation in the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case on Monday. The summons was pasted outside his residence in Chandigarh after he was not found at home. According to the summons, Saini has been asked to appear before a Special Investigation Team at the Mataur police station in Mohali at 11 am on September 28.

The Punjab Police on Sunday summoned former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini to join investigation in the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case on Monday. The summons was pasted outside his residence in Chandigarh after he was not found at home.

According to the summons, Saini has been asked to appear before a Special Investigation Team at the Mataur police station in Mohali at 11 am on September 28. The copies of the summons were also sent to his counsel, said Special Public Prosecutor Sartej Singh Narula.

Earlier, the former Punjab Director General of Police had failed to appear before the SIT on September 23. On Friday, Saini had said in a Mohali court that he was ready to join the investigation.

The Supreme Court had earlier granted him interim protection from arrest. Saini was booked in May this year 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. 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.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)