Ex Punjab Top Cop Appears Before Special Investigation Team In 29-Year-Old Balwant Multani Case

Former Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini today appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Mohali in connection with the disappearance case of junior engineer Balwant Singh Multani in 1991.

The SIT of the Punjab Police on Sunday had summoned Sumedh Singh Saini to join the investigation in connection with the case.

Sumedh Singh Saini reached the police station at around 11 am.

Earlier, the former Punjab DGP had failed to appear before the SIT on September 23.

The Supreme Court had granted him interim protection from arrest in this matter.

Sumedh Singh Saini was charged in May in connection with the disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani in 1991 when he was working as a junior engineer with the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation.

The police had last month added a murder charge under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the disappearance case after two former Chandigarh police personnel - former UT Police Inspector Jagir Singh and former ASI Kuldeep Singh, who are also co-accused, turned approver.

Sumedh Singh Saini, a 1982-batch IPS officer, was the youngest DGP in the country when he was appointed the state police chief in 2012. He was removed from the post in 2015 after protests following sacrilege incidents. Sumedh Singh Saini retired in 2018.

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

However, the police had later claimed that Balwant Singh Multani, son of a former IAS officer, had escaped from police custody of Qadian police in Gurdaspur.

Sumedh Singh Saini and six others were charged on the complaint of Balwant Singh Multani's brother, Palwinder Singh Multani, a resident of Jalandhar.

The case was registered against under relevant sections of the IPC for kidnapping or abducting in order to murder, causing disappearance of evidence of offence, wrongful confinement, voluntarily causes hurt and criminal conspiracy.