CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh’s senior superintendent of police Sumedh Saini sustained minor injuries while three of his gunmen were killed when a powerful car bomb aimed at him exploded to leave him a shattered man.
A highly controversial officer Saini has allegedly been running a private force which picks up Sikh youths from their homes tortures them and often kills them in full knowledge of powers that be in Chandigarh and Delhi. No enquiry is held into numerous complaints of mysterious and not SO mysterious disappearances in and around Chandigarh
Suspected Babbar Khalsa militants triggered a remote controlled bomb planted in a car parked on the route Saini often takes when his motorcade on Thursday passed through in Sector 17 here. Luckily for Saini he was not in his official car which was reduced to a twisted piece of junk killing both its occupants He was travelling in a jeep that followed the car and was presumably himself driving it when the explosion took place. The windscreen of the jeep was smashed and its front tires deflated as it struck against the targeted car.
The impact of the explosion was so great that it could be heard a kilometer away while pieces of metal were seen by eyewitnesses flying all over. “I saw an S.P. on the scene literally trembling with shock. His bodyguard held him by the arm and escorted him aside” an eyewitness said. A doctor at the local P.G.I who later attended on Saini for his minor injuries stated that his patient was “under shock” although the nature of injuries was superficial.
The SSP’s grey ambassador was littered with blood and limbs. An entire arm and part of the torso of one of the gunmen was hanging from the car window. Socks intact had become detached from another body. Also visible was the head and torso of another policeman. Several Hindus were quoted as praying for Saini’s long life when they assembled around the P.G.I. where he was removed immediately after the incident in a semiconscious state. “I wish my age too was added to Saini’s age!” said one Hindu.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 6, 1991
