1991 Multani murder case: SC refuses to quash fresh FIR against ex-Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday refused to interfere with a fresh FIR lodged against former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in the 1991 disappearance and murder of junior engineer Balwant Singh Multani.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Pankaj Mithal said that in view of the subsequent development of a charge sheet being filed in the case, it would not like to interfere with the FIR.

The top court, however, said that observations and findings recorded in the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict dated September 8, 2020, will not come in the way of proceedings before the trial court.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Saini, sought quashing of the FIR, saying it was lodged in 2020 after decades of the alleged incident due to political reasons.

He said that time and again this court had granted relief to Saini, who is a decorated officer, and even protected him from any coercive action in the case.

Justice Sundresh said that since the charge sheet has been filed in the case, it cannot go into quashing FIR at this stage.

The bench said Saini can face the proceedings before the trial court and can challenge them before an appropriate forum.

On January 5, 2021, the top court asked the Punjab government to place on record the charge sheet filed in the fresh FIR lodged against Saini in the case.

The top court had already granted anticipatory bail to Saini in the fresh case lodged in the 1991 disappearance and murder of Multani.

On December 3, 2020 the top court had granted anticipatory bail to Saini in a fresh case lodged in the 1991 incident.

It had set aside an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court declining him the pre-arrest bail in the 33-year-old case.

The top court had said that long delay in lodging of the FIR as in the present case can certainly be a valid consideration for grant of anticipatory bail.

It had noted that the impugned FIR (dated May 6, 2020) has been lodged by Palwinder Singh Multani, brother of the deceased, after almost 29 years from the date of incident.

It had said that even in the fresh FIR, there were only allegations of offences like abduction, causing disappearance of evidence, wrongful confinement, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal conspiracy under IPC for which there was an order of anticipatory bail in favour of Saini.

Saini was booked in May 2020 in connection with the disappearance of Multani when he was working as a junior engineer with the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation.

On September 8, 2020, the high court dismissed Saini's two pleas for anticipatory bail in the case and quashed the fresh FIR.

Saini had approached the high court after a Mohali court dismissed his bail plea in this case on September 1, 2020.

The Punjab Police on September 3, 2020 had claimed that Saini had “absconded” while denying his wife's claims of withdrawal of his security cover.

A Mohali court had on August 21, 2020, allowed the Punjab Police to add a murder charge against him in this case.

This came after two former Chandigarh police personnel, UT police Inspector Jagir Singh and ASI Kuldeep Singh, who are also co-accused, turned approver in the case.

The top court had earlier quashed the FIR related to the case when Saini was Inspector General of Police.

Multani, who was a resident of Mohali, was picked up by police after a terrorist attack on Saini, who was then the senior superintendent of police in Chandigarh, in 1991.

However, the police later claimed that Multani had escaped from police custody of Qadian police in Gurdaspur.

Saini and six others were booked on the complaint of Multani's brother, Palwinder, a resident of Jalandhar.

The case was registered against them under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 344 (wrongful confinement), 330 (voluntarily causes hurt) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at Mataur police station in Mohali.