Supreme Court Seeks Punjab Government's Reply in Multani Murder Case

Mukul Rohatgi termed it as a case of political vendetta 

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Saini, narrated the facts of the case.  

"There was a bomb blast in 1991 in Chandigarh and the idea was to assassinate Saini. FIR was registered in Chandigarh Sector 17. Balwant Multani was arrested in December '91. It is the case of Multani's father that Multani was tortured by the petitioner. It was the case of the State that Multani escaped and was never found. He was not seen since 1991." - Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatagi

The senior advocate termed it as a case of political vendetta, as the former DGP had lodged cases against current Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Rohatgi said, 

"There cannot be a third FIR in the same incident. The Supreme Court had also recorded that a second FIR cannot be registered. There is no material apart from a self-serving statement by an accused similarly placed who was granted anticipatory bail. This is a case of political vendetta." 

He said that the illegal and malicious prosecution of his client should be stopped as one case after the other is being filed in the matter.   

The Bench issues a notice in the matter 

The bench issued a notice in the matter and asked senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, appearing for Punjab, about how much time he will take to file the reply.  Subramanium said that he will need three weeks’ time to file a reply after which the bench posted the matter for further hearing. 

The Bench told Subramanium not to rush, it stated, “Please don't rush and proceed in such a manner which may cause problems. Since the matter has not proceeded in the last one month, please don't proceed any further. You withdraw the latest petition from the High Court”.   

The Court asked the Punjab government to file its response in three weeks and gave one week to the former DGP to file his rejoinder.