Cops chasing cop; top former cop gets relief from apex court
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Former director general of police (DGP) of Punjab police today sighed a relief, after the apex court granted him an interim protection from arrest in the 1991 alleged murder case of a CITCO junior engineer Balwant Singh Multani.
Supreme Court three bench judges, of Justice Ashok Bhushan, justice R S Reddy and justice M R Shah sought response from Punjab government on Saini’s plea challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court order refusing to grant him anticipatory bail in the case.
“This case is of 1991. After 30 years what is the hurry to arrest him…We will grant you time to file a reply,” a three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan said, adding he would not be arrested till further orders.
The bench posted the matter for hearing after four weeks and said that Saini is not to be arrested till further orders and he shall cooperate in the investigation.
Cops chasing cop; top former cop gets relief from apex court. On behalf of former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that it was a serious matter of a decorated police officer being harassed.
On September 8, the high court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea, observing that the same cannot be allowed as there is every likelihood of Saini stifling fair investigation and trial. “The investigating agency has woken up and gathered courage to investigate its own officer and therefore, the vital pieces of evidence which would come handy in leading to various leads would inch towards unraveling this puzzle, which too has baffled the citizenry who are looking upon the justice system as a last resort to get justice,” the high court bench of justice Fatehdeep Singh observed on why Saini’s custodial interrogation is warranted.
SC JUDGEMENT ORDERS
19544_2020_35_27_23971_Order_15-Sep-2020
September,15,2020
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