The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided not to interfere with a fresh FIR against former Punjab Director General of Police, Sumedh Singh Saini, in connection with the 1991 disappearance and murder of junior engineer Balwant Singh Multani. The bench, consisting of Justices MM Sundresh and Pankaj Mithal, acknowledged the progression of the case, notably the filing of a charge sheet, as a basis for their decision.
The top court made it clear that the observations from a previous Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict on September 8, 2020, would not influence the ongoing trial court proceedings. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Saini, had argued for the quashing of the FIR, claiming it was politically motivated and lodged decades after the alleged incident. He highlighted the various instances where the court had previously granted relief to Saini, including protection from coercive actions.
However, Justice Sundresh emphasized the significance of the charge sheet already filed, stating that the FIR could not be quashed at this stage. The court directed that Saini could face the trial proceedings and has the option to challenge them in an appropriate forum if necessary.
The Supreme Court had previously extended some relief to Saini by granting him anticipatory bail in this case and overturning a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had denied him pre-arrest bail. The court had considered the long delay in the filing of the FIR—a gap of nearly 29 years—as a significant factor for this decision.
Saini was booked in May 2020 concerning the disappearance of Multani, who was then a junior engineer at the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation. Following Multani’s arrest linked to a terrorist attack on Saini in 1991, the police later claimed Multani had escaped from custody.
