Mohali court denies bail to former DGP Saini in corruption case

Chandigarh: In yet another setback to ex-Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, a special court on Saturday rejected his anticipatory bail application in a corruption case registered by Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB).

Rejecting his plea, Additional District and Sessions Judge Parminder Singh Grewal in the case observed that Saini was booked after a detailed inquiry by the VB, based on documents and on the complaint of the Joint Director Vigilance.

The Court further observed that the former DGP had asserted in his petition that he did not know Nimratdeep Singh an executive engineer with the public works department (buildings and construction) and his father, had only met them during signing the rent agreement and the agreement to sell. However, Saini’s own accounts indicate that he had paid Rs 45 lakh to Nimratdeep and his father before signing the rent deed.

Seeking anticipatory bail in a corruption case, the former DGP filed a petition on Thursday through his counsel HS Dhanoya and APS Deol in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge.

As per the case, Saini along with six others including Nimratdeep Singh; Surinderjit Singh Jaspal, Ajay Kaushal, Parduman Singh, Paramjit Singh and Amit Singla in the FIR have been booked by the VB under Sections 109, 120-B of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act recently as he was accused of assisting Punjab XEN Nimratdeep in amassing assets beyond his known sources of income.

In this case, a VB team had also raided Saini’s residence in Sector 20 here to arrest him on Tuesday and it continued searching his house for hours.

Deol, counsel for Saini, said that this was a politically motivated case and in line with the three earlier cases registered against Saini.