Court pronounces commitment order in case ‘involving’ Saini

The court of judicial magistrate first class has pronounced a commitment order stating that the offences made out against accused Sumedh Singh Saini and Kanwal Inder Pal Singh in the 1991 disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani case are punishable under Sections 302, 364, 201, 344, 330, 219 and 120-B of the IPC.

The court noted that since the offences under Section 302 (murder) and 364 (kidnapping) are exclusively triable by the Lead Court of Sessions, accordingly, the case is committed to the court of Lead Sessions Judge, Mohali, for January 7, 2025.

On November 5, former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and KIP Singh were supplied the main challan and a supplementary challan in the case.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had turned down Saini’s petition seeking quashing of a fresh FIR, saying a charge sheet had already been filed in the case.

Saini and six others were booked in connection with the disappearance of Multani in 1991, at a police station in Mohali in May 2020. The murder charge was added in August after two of the accused policemen gave their statements.

Multani, a junior engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation, was allegedly picked up by the police in December 1991 after a terror attack on Saini that left three policemen dead. Saini was also injured in the attack.