Gursharan Kaur Mann. Pic credit: VOK TV
Chandigarh, May 11, 2020: The kidnapping and disappearance case registered against former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini at Police Station Mataur, Mohali, took an interesting turn when an eyewitness turned up in court claiming that she had witnessed first-hand torture of Balwant Singh Multani.
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Gursharan Kaur Mann, a High Court advocate, approached the court on Friday and told the judge that she witnessed torture of Multani at the hands of Saini and said that she wanted to record her statement and appear as a witness in the case. The judge asked her to approach the investigating officer in the case and record her statement which she later did.
Son of an IAS officer, Multani, who was a junior engineer with Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Corporation (CITCO), was picked by police after a terrorist attack on Saini on December 9, 1991 when he was SSP Chandigarh. Four policemen were killed in that attack and Saini also suffered injuries.
Multani later disappeared without a trace with the police claiming that he had fled while being in custody at Qadian in Punjab.
Speaking to a TV channel, Mann said her husband Partap Singh Mann and Multani were good friends since their college days and they remained in touch even afterwards as her husband joined PCL and Multani got a job at CITCO.
“He used to come to our house. He was from a good family and soft-spoken person. After his arrest, everyone known to him was arrested by Chandigarh Police including me and my husband on December 10, 1991. My son was 2-years old at that time and we were in shock as we had no clue why we were being arrested. Only after we reached the police station that we came to know the reason for our arrest was the attack on Saini,” Mann said.
“My husband was tortured along with others in Sector 11 Police Station. On December 12, they took us to the Sector 17 Police station where Multani was also present. He was in very bad shape and his body had signs of severe torture. On December 13 Saini came to the police station and sat in the SHO’s office. We were also brought there. Later, two policemen entered holding Multani as he wasn’t able to stand,” Mann said.
She said Multani fell down the moment the policemen left him as bones in his legs were broken.
“Saini got up from his chair and started kicking him. He kicked his face with so much force that Multani’s eye got dislocated from its socket and fell out. Later, he got him tortured even more by policemen present there. Saini should be tried for the cold-blooded murder of Multani. The police say he ran away from their custody but how can a man who could not even stand, run away?” asked Mann.
“Saini said Multani was involved in the attack on him and pointing towards us said that you are not involved but if proof surfaces that you were involved, I will finish you off too,” she said.
She said the police tortured her husband so much that he went into depression and later immigrated to US.
“I saw Multani lying on the floor in a room at the police station and he appeared to be dead. On December 17 we were taken to the court where I was given bail while my husband got bail after two months,” she said.