Chandigarh
Former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini was released from vigilance custody early on Friday on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which termed his arrest in a cheating and forgery case as illegal.
A single bench of Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi pronounced the verdict on Thursday night.
Saini was arrested by the state's Vigilance Bureau on Wednesday night in connection with a case registered in September 2020 for cheating, forgery, corruption and other offences.
After the high court order, Saini, who was at Mohali court premises, was released. Saini left the Mohali court complex at around 2 am.
The former DGP was produced before a Mohali court at around 12:30 pm on Thursday for seeking remand. He remained there for more than 12 hours.
The court held that Saini's arrest was illegal and in violation of earlier court orders.
"In view of the above referred judicial precedents and above discussed facts and circumstances of the case evidencing illegality of the arrest of the detenue, the habeas corpus petition is allowed and the detenue is held to have been illegally arrested in circumvented violation of protection orders dated 11.10.2018 and 23.09.2020 and interim anticipatory bail order dated 12.08.2021 passed by the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court," the order said.
"Therefore, the detenue is ordered to be released forthwith," according to the court order which was uploaded on the high court website past midnight.
Saini case: Punjab minister seeks removal of AG, home secy, vigilance bureau chief
After the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered release of former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in a cheating case, state cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Friday sought removal of the advocate general, home secretary and vigilance bureau chief director for their "professional incompetence."
However, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, while responding to Randhawa's sharp remarks, asked the ministers and party colleagues to "check facts" before making any statement.
"In view of the fiasco in Sumedh Singh Saini case, I urge chief Minister @capt_amarinder to immediately remove Advocate General, Home Secretary and Chief Director Vigilance, for their professional incompetence," said Randhawa in a tweet.
The Jails minister also tagged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
