The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has decided to file a Recall
Petition in the High Court against the August 19 release orders of Sumedh Saini
in a land fraud case , and also against the court’s interim bail order of
August 12 in the disproportionate assets case against the former DGP.
The Bureau will soon be moving the recall petitions in
the two cases filed against Saini, a 1982 batch IPS officer.
Saini was arrested on August 18 in the land fraud case
(FIR no. 11, Mohali) when he went to the Vigilance Bureau (VB) office late in
the evening (around 8 p.m) in connection with another case (FIR no. 13 -
disproportionate assets case). Saini had gone to the VB office in accordance
with the High Court orders awarding him interim bail subject to him joining the
investigation in FIR 13 within 7 days of the grant of interim bail.
Ordering Saini’s interim bail, the court had, on August
12, 2021, stated: “For joining loose ends, if any with regard to the
documentary evidence or banking transactions, this Court is of the opinion that
custodial interrogation of the petitioner is not required. The petitioner is
granted interim bail subject to his joining investigation within one week from
today.”
Pointing out that the ex-DGP had chosen to visit the VB
office late in the evening on the last day of the 7-day period, an official
spokesperson of the Bureau said Saini had thus failed to follow the HC orders
in letter and spirit. “Saini intentionally exhausted the 7-day period during
which he had to join the investigation in accordance with the interim order in
FIR no. 13, and even then he arrived at the Sector 68 Mohali office of the
Bureau without any prior intimation to the IO. In fact, he intentionally did
not go to the office of I.O. V.B., Unit SAS Nagar, Quarter No. 69, Police
Housing Complex, Sector-62, SAS Nagar,” said the spokesperson.
In the circumstances, the Bureau had thus decided to file
a petition before the court seeking the recall of the interim bail orders in
the disproportionate assets case. The case relates to 35 properties and certain
bank accounts of Nimratdeep XEN, with balance and transactions worth Rs 100
crores, including some in crores of rupees with Saini, leading to his undue
enrichment, and exhibiting that he held assets far exceeding his income.
The spokesperson further said that sufficient ground was
also made out in the land fraud case for the state to seek recall of the HC
orders releasing Saini from detention. Firstly, Saini had been taken into
custody not under FIR 13 (where he had got interim bail) but in case relating
to FIR 11, in which he had no protection from arrest. The criminal acts in FIR
no. 11 and FIR no. 13 are different, said the spokesperson.
Secondly, the earlier protection orders of the HC, dated
11.10.2018 and 23.09.2020, do not apply to this particular case as those had
provided for 7 days’ notice to be given to the officer before arresting him for
any offences committed during his service period. Since Saini retired from service in June 2018
while the crime against him in illegal
land fraud case related to the year 2021, he was not protected from arrest
without notice by the said orders, said the spokesperson.
Notably, the HC, in its order dated 19.08.2021, had
declared the detention of Saini “illegal in circumvented violation of
protection orders dated 11.10.2018 and 23.09.2020 and interim anticipatory bail
order dated 12.08.2021.”
The said land fraud case relates to Saini conspiring with one Surinderjit Singh Jaspal to forge a property purchase agreement. The VB had charged Surinderjit Singh Jaspal, who is the father of Nimratdeep, and Sumedh Singh Saini with conspiracy to prevent attachment of House No.3048, Sector-20/D, Chandigarh, and had further accused them of creating a false agreement and using it as a valuable security. Hence, Surinderjit Singh Jaspal and Sumedh Singh Saini had committed offence u/s 465, 467, 471 r/w 120-B IPC, as per the Bureau.