SIT to base probe on CBI report

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, May 18

The special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police, which is probing the role of ex-DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in the Balwant Singh Multani disappearance case, is making the CBI inquiry into the incident as the basis of its investigation.

Senior officials, requesting anonymity, said the CBI inquiry report in 2008 had gone deep into details of the case and the report was a perfect platform to initiate fresh investigation. The SIT is studying the inquiry report. It has also requested the CBI to share the official documents related to the investigation, if any. The CBI had inquired into the case at the behest of the High Court. It had also filed an FIR in the case.

The Supreme Court, had, however, quashed the High Court order regarding the CBI inquiry and the case saying it did not fulfil the technical criteria. It had given the petitioners liberty to pursue the case by approaching the police. Balwant’s brother Palwinder Singh Multani complained to the police on May 6 about the case, saying the original petitioner and his father Darshan Singh Multani, an ex-IAS officer, had died since. He said he could not file the complaint earlier as Saini was in service. He retired in June 2018 and after waiting for some time to collect more evidence, he filed the complaint.

Subsequently, the Mohali police filed an FIR against Saini and six other cops under IPCSections 364, 201, 344, 330 and 120B. The case dates back to December 1991, when Saini was the Chandigarh SSP.