Punjab DGP appears in court, seeks case transfer

NEW DELHI: The Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini appeared in a trial court on Thursday following summons issued to him in a 1994 case of abduction of three members of a Ludhiana-based business family who are still missing.
Saini, however, requested the court to adjourn the hearing saying he had filed a transfer petition before the District and Sessions Judge for the case to be transferred to another judge.The court has now fixed the hearing for January 9.
On November 20, Special CBI Judge AK Mendiratta had directed Saini to appear in the court during the cross-examination of key witness Ashish Kumar, brother of Vinod Kumar - one of the three missing person who are believed to be dead. Ashish Kumar had requested court to direct Saini to remain present in the court for speedy trial of the case. DGP Saini has filed a plea in the court of District and Sessions court, for the case to be transferred to some other judge, alleging that Special CBI judge Mendiratta is biased.
DGP's counsel Ajay Burman requested the Special CBI Court to defer the hearing till the District and Sessions Judge decides on the transfer petition.
The CBI opposed this, saying the District and Sessions Judge has not passed a stay order on the case so far. The CBI prosecutor requested the court to continue the cross examination. However, Judge Mendiratta deferred the hearing for January 9, 2014, saying that cross-examination of witness Ashish Kumar would be done subject to the order on the transfer petition.
Earlier, Saini had told District and Session Judge AK Chawla that the Delhi High Court had granted him exemption from personal appearance in the case due to security threats.
Ludhiana-based businessman Vinod Kumar, his brother-in-law Ashok Kumar and their driver Mukhtiyar Singh had been taken into custody on March, 1994, at a police station in Ludhiana after which they went missing. The CBI claims that Saini (then Ludhiana SSP) had booked Vinod in a case of economic offences. The case against Saini and three other police officers, Sukhmohinder Singh (then Ludhiana SP), inspector Paramjit Singh (then SHO, Ludhiana) and inspector Balbir Chand Tiwari (then SHO police station Kotwali), was registered by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Later, the Supreme Court had transferred the case from the Ambala court to Delhi. The CBI in 2000 had chargesheeted Saini and the other accused policemen under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC. The CBI court had later framed charges against them.