Jalandhar: As expected, the Supreme Court granted interim protection from arrest to former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in the 1991 Balwant Singh Multani disappearance and alleged killing case. But that hasn’t dampened the victim’s family’s spirits; they have vowed to fight this case till the very end.
The Supreme Court’s move has also given courage to other victims’ families, who were not speaking out earlier, to come forward. Apart from Multani’s family, another alleged fake encounter case from Ropar near Chandigarh has also come to fore. The brother of a man named Gurmeet Singh has alleged that Gurmeet, too, was illegally detained and killed in custody.
The twist in the Multani case came ten days before Saini was to be presented in the Punjab and Haryana high court. The apex court on September 15 issued a notice to the Punjab government on Saini’s petition seeking anticipatory bail and asked it to respond within three weeks. It also included another one week for Saini to file his rejoinder.
The apex court has asked Saini to cooperate with the Punjab Police in the investigation.
A 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, ex-DGP Sumedh Singh Saini is wanted in the 29-year-old case on the murder of Balwant Singh Multani, the son of former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Darshan Singh Multani, on December 18, 1991, during the dark days of militancy in Punjab.
Talking to The Wire, Pradeep Virk, an IPS officer turned lawyer who is the counsel for the complainant, said, “Those who have waited for 29 long years can wait for a few more days, too. It is a long battle. It is because of our faith in the almighty that I and Balwant Singh Multani’s family did not lose hope. We are sure that justice will prevail, as I believe in Satyamev Jayate.”
Virk pointed out that there was a time when this case was nearly closed, but then an FIR was registered and raids were conducted against Saini.
“Balwant Singh Multani was not a terrorist, he was an innocent man. But still he was picked up by the police, illegally detained and tortured. Now, the apex court has asked Saini to cooperate with the Punjab Police in investigation. If he does not cooperate, the SIT heading the case will approach the court for further action,” he said.
The lawyer also said that if people know anything about such forced disappearance or fake encounter cases, or want to come forward, then they should.
Virk is the son of former Punjab DGP S.S. Virk, who served during the previous tenure of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh from 2002 to 2007. He had quit IPS training just before he finished to pursue law.
What is the case?
A militant attack took place in 1991, in which Saini was injured and three policemen deployed for his security died. Saini believed that Balwant Singh Multani knew the whereabouts of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, the suspected mastermind behind the attack. At present, Bhullar is serving life imprisonment in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast case.
In the FIR, Multani’s Jalandhar-based brother Palwinder Singh has stated: “My brother Balwant Singh Multani was employed as Junior Engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) and resided at Mohali. He was picked by a team of Chandigarh police from his house on December 11, 1991 and taken to sector-17 police station on the orders of the then SSP Chandigarh Sumedh Singh Saini. My father left no stone unturned to secure the release of my brother but to no avail. It was during the police torture that Balwant Singh Multani succumbed to the third-degree treatment of the police.”
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Saini allegedly falsely depicted that sub-inspector Jagir Singh had taken Balwant to Qadian in Batala district on December 18, 1991, where the deceased was shown as a proclaimed offender (PO).
Palwinder Singh approached a Mohali court to reopen the case when two former Punjab Police cops – Jagir Singh and Kuldeep Singh – in their statement to the high court stated that they witnessed how Sumedh Singh Saini tortured Balwant Singh Multani and then shifted him to a vehicle in unconscious state. The cops also claimed that they declared Multani as missing and absconding following Saini’s orders.
An FIR under Sections 364, 201, 344, 330, 219 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code for illegal abduction, inhuman torture leading to elimination and fake disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani was registered at the Mataur police station in district SAS Nagar, Mohali on May 6, 2020.
However, it was after the addition of Section 302 of the IPC (punishment for murder) on August 21, 2020 that Saini fled, leaving behind his Z-plus security while police raids were conducted in Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi to nab him.
Gurmeet Singh case
On May 4, 1991, Gurmeet Singh (21), a Government College, Ropar student, was picked from outside his college allegedly at the behest of the then SSP Chandigarh, Sumedh Singh Saini.
Ranjit Singh showing a photograph of his brother Gurmeet Singh.
Gurmeet Singh’s younger brother Ranjit Singh (now 45), from Pucca Bagh in Ropar near Chandigarh, said, “As a 16 year old, I too was kept in illegal custody and tortured brutally for 17 days. I still remember how Saini came in the room and told me that he has killed my brother. Saini told me that ‘If you want to remain alive, tell your uncle to stay in his limits, or else get ready to move on to the other side of this world.’ My sisters and mother were beaten too. Till date we remained silent due to fear, but Multani’s case has given us the courage to speak against DGP Saini.”
Ranjit Singh also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, the chief justice of India and the chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking an inquiry from an impartial investigating agency on Gurmeet’s murder, which had officially been called an ‘encounter’.
Ranjit said that his uncle, Sadhu Singh, started approaching the senior police officials for justice, which irked Saini and their troubles began. “In college, my brother was associated with the All India Sikh Student Federation. He was picked for organising the ‘Akhand Path’ of one of his friends, who too was killed by the police during militancy,” he added.
He said that once they were informed that his brother was alive, his uncle Sadhu Singh reached CIA Staff Patiala to see Gurmeet. “When he saw Gurmeet, he was so brutally tortured that neither he was able to walk, nor talk nor eat anything. That was the last time he saw my brother. Saini is a blot on the police,” he said in a choked voice.
Advocate Kulwant Singh from Ropar
Ranjit Singh alleged, “Advocate Kulwant Singh from Ropar, his wife and son were also allegedly eliminated by Saini. Kulwant’s car was found abandoned near Bhakra Canal and there was no trace of him and his family. Ranjit was supporting our case in the initial days.”
Vinod Kumar case, Ludhiana
Former DGP Saini is also accused of another case of disappearance in which he is facing trial in a special CBI Court in Delhi. On March 15, 1994, Ludhiana-based businessman Vinod, his brother-in-law Ashok Kumar and their driver Mukhtiyar Singh were abducted and illegally detained. Their bodies were never found. Vinod’s mother fought the case till her death at the age of 102 in 2017.
Behbal Kalan firing, 2015
Another case under investigation against DGP Saini is the Behbal Kalan firing incident of 2015. Saini was serving as DGP Punjab, when police opened fire at a crowd protesting against the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib, killing two Sikh youth in Behbal Kalan village on October 14, 2015.
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Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh constituted an SIT led by inspector general of police Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh. Recently, Kunwar Vijay Pratap stated that DGP Saini and another suspended IGP, Paramraj Singh Umranangal, were the main conspirators of the Behbal Kalan firing episode, hence adding further trouble for Saini.
Opposition to Saini and the government’s silence
Kanwarpal Singh Randhawa, the spokesperson of Dal Khalsa, a Sikh organisation said, that though the Supreme Court order is a big jolt for the victims, they will continue to fight. “After 29 years, there was a ray of hope in the Balwant Singh Multani case, but the Supreme Court completely overlooked the human rights violations and the rule of law. The court treated Saini with velvet gloves while the executive, judiciary and legislature gave him a free run to get legal reprieve. We are hopeful that the stay will be vacated and he will be arrested,” he said.
Randhawa said that Dal Khalsa leaders were in touch with other victims and would bring them to the fore. “One such victim was Babbar Khalsa militant Balwinder Singh Jattana, whose entire family was burnt alive at night by a close aide of Saini’s,” he added.
Dal Khalsa had also put up posters of ‘Killer ex-Cop wanted’ in Amritsar and at Saini’s native village Kurala in Hoshiarpur district.
Dal Khalsa members putting up posters against Saini in Kurala village, Hoshiarpur.
Even Shiromani Akali Dal’s Amritsar president Simranjit Singh Mann, who is an IPS officer turned politician, said, “Had I been an IPS officer today, I would have arrested DGP Saini and set an example. Saini is a genocidaire.”
Notably, the SAD in its election manifesto of 1997 had announced that it would take up cases of fake encounters and forced disappearances after coming to power. “Leave justice and fighting our cases, the SAD-BJP alliance appointed Sumedh Singh Saini as DGP Punjab in 2012. It was like rubbing salt in our wounds. But then the Akalis had to remove Saini following mass protests in the Behbal Kalan firing case,” Ranjit Singh said.
“The public taught a lesson to Akalis in the 2017 Punjab assembly elections and they failed to even emerge as the main opposition in the state,” said a SAD party worker, requesting anonymity.