Saini case: ‘No valid reason to book financiers’

The prosecution alleged that Saini and the other accused were ‘‘not acting within their legal duties’’ when they arrested the businessmen, and that going by the facts of the matter a clear case of abduction with intent to murder could be made out against the accused.

The prosecution’s contention was made during arguments on charges against Saini, currently Punjab Police IG (Headquarters), and four other police officers, in the court of CBI special judge Vinod Goel.

Saini and his co-accused have been charged with wrongfully arresting Vinod Kumar Walia and his brother-in-law Mukesh Kumar on March 15, 1994, in connection with two FIRs charging them with financial irregularities in their dealings with Allahabad Bank. The CBI claimed Saini had a personal grudge against the owners of Ambala-based Saini

Motors, his relatives by marriage, and wanted to harm them by targeting their financiers Walia and Ashok Kumar.

Concluding his argument, CBI prosecutor Y K Saxena charged that Saini and his co-accused were clearly not acting within the bounds of their duties. ‘‘The intervening period between the disappearance of the victims following their arrest 12 years ago clearly points to their murder. Therefore a clear case of abduction with intent to murder (Section 364 of the IPC) can be made out against the accused,’’ the prosecutor charged.

The court was informed that the manager of Allahabad Bank later told investigators that police had pressurised him to file an FIR, even though he was not willing to do this. ‘‘Later, when Walia and Kumar approached the Chandigarh High Court on the matter, Saini, then SSP Ambala, even approached the

Chief Justice at his residence to obtain permission to apprehend the two financiers.’’

‘‘A second FIR, also at the behest of Saini, was lodged at Kotwali PS in Ambala against the two men, a step which was not required and clearly indicates that the police officers were determined to proceed against Walia and Kumar,’’ the prosecutor charged.

Shortly after the second FIR was filed, the two men were picked up and they subsequently disappeared. They have not been traced since, nor have their bodies been recovered.

The special court, after hearing the contention of the prosecution, had sought to examine documents to determine whether or not Saini and the co-accused were acting within their duties in the case.

The prosecution further refuted claims by the accused that the victims had been sighted in Delhi after their disappearance. The prosecution submitted an affidavit, signed in 1995 by the family of the victims, which claimed that an earlier affidavit in which they claimed to have sighted the victims after their disappearance was made at the behest of SSP Saini.

The case had been transferred to Delhi on the orders of the Supreme Court.