Crl. Misc. No.M-14388 of 2011 [1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Date of Decision: August 25, 2011 1. Crl. Misc. No. M-14388 of 2011 Sakattar Singh …..Petitioner Vs. State of Punjab …..Respondent 2. Crl. Misc. No. M-15688 of 2011 Baljinder Kaur …..Petitioner Vs. State of Punjab …..Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE M.M.S. BEDI. -.- Present:- Mr. Ritesh Pandey, Advocate for the petitioners in both cases. Mr.Kirat Singh Sidhu, DAG, Punjab. Mr.L.M. Gulati, Advocate for the complainant. Crl. Misc. No.M-14388 of 2011 [2] -.- M.M.S. BEDI, J. (ORAL) This order will dispose of two petitions bearing Crl. Misc. Nos. M-14388 and M-15688 of 2011 for grant of pre-arrest bail in a case registered on the statement of Surjit Singh alleging that the complainant alongwith his wife Jagdish Kaur had reached Ajnala at 12.15 noon on March 11, 2011 in a Zen Car driven by Nishan Singh as they had to purchase land from Sultan Singh, brother of Sakattar Singh, petitioner, and husband of Baljinder Kaur, petitioner and Desa Singh. The agreement had been written earlier and out of the property agreed to be sold, 4 killa of land had already been transferred vide registration by the complainant and the consideration for the remaining land had also been given to the abovesaid persons. On the abovesaid date, a sum of `10 lacs had been kept by the complainant in the Car and about ` 8000/- had been lying in the purse of his wife. As security measure, the complainant was carrying his double barrel rifle in the Car alongwith 10 cartridges. On the way, the complainant had telephoned Sultan Singh from Ajnala to arrive quickly and purchased the documents for Registry but neither Sultan Singh nor his family members came to Ajnala. After waiting for long time, the complainant went to the house of Sultan Singh. Sultan Singh told the complainant that because of some work he could not reach for registration and would go after taking tea. Thereafter petitioner Baljinder Kaur served three glasses of milk to the complainant and thereafter Sultan Singh and his wife Baljinder Kaur sat with the complainant in his Car and they proceeded towards Ajnala. After Crl. Misc. No.M-14388 of 2011 [3] sometime, the Driver of the Car Nishan Singh expressed his desire to sleep then Sultan Singh started driving the Car and the Driver sat on the other seat. Thereafter the complainant and others became unconscious. At 10.00 p.m. in the night because of heat due to fire in the Car, Driver Nishan Singh got conscious and pulled complainant and his wife in injured and unconscious condition. They reached the house of Baldev Singh and the complainant called his brother-in-law Ramanpreet Singh and narrated the whole story. In the meantime, an explosion took place in the Car. The complainant came to know that a gas cylinder had exploded on the Driver seat and the car was completely burnt. Baldev Singh had taken the complainant to Dr. Mahabir Singh who had administered first aid and lateron Ramanpreet Singh got admitted the complainant at Hartej Hospital. The grievance of the complainant was that Sultan Singh, Baljinder Kaur, petitioner and Sakattar Singh, petitioner were responsible for the entire episode and that they had taken away their cash and rifle. Counsel for the petitioners has vehemently contended that the petitioners have been falsely implicated in the case as Sultan Singh had executed an agreement of sale of his 32 Kanals of land with the complainant and the date of execution and registration of the sale deed was December 27, 2010. On said date, the seller was present before Sub Registrar, Ajnala but the complainant vendee did not appear. The land was, however, registered in favour of the complainant on January 3, 2011 but the complainant had to pay the balance sale consideration. As the complainant did not have any money to pay to seller, he has concocted a false story. On Crl. Misc. No.M-14388 of 2011 [4] behalf of Sakattar Singh, it has been argued that complainant had received earnest money of `25 lacs and had refused to get the sale deed registered in favour of the accused party. The present FIR has been registered to prejudice the civil rights of the petitioners. I have heard counsel for the petitioners, counsel for the complainant and the State Counsel and carefully gone through the record. A superficial appreciation of the facts gave an indication that it was merely a civil dispute between the parties regarding execution of agreement of sale but a careful perusal of the entire record especially the MLR of Nishan Singh, Driver and Jagdish Kaur, reflects that there were number of burn injuries on the face and different parts of the body. The said injuries cannot be presumed to be self-suffered injuries with an objective to defeat the civil rights of the complainant. From the report of the Chemical Examiner regarding chemical examination of lavage of the victims show that Lorazepam was detected in the clothes of the victims. It has also been argued that another case has been registered by Surjit Singh against the petitioners alleging that he was being threatened by the petitioners. Copy of FIR No. 67 of July 12, 2011 was placed on record. Taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances, I am of the opinion that Baljinder Kaur, petitioner had allegedly offered Milk containing intoxicating material whereas the actual criminal activity is attributed to petitioner Sakattar Singh and his co-accused Sultan Singh. The petition bearing Crl. Misc. No. M-15688 of 2011 filed by Baljinder Kaur is allowed and it is ordered that in case of arrest of the Crl. Misc. No.M-14388 of 2011 [5] petitioner she will be released on bail to the satisfaction of the arresting officer subject to the conditions that she will join investigation as and when required by the police and that she will not tamper with the evidence or hamper the investigation in any manner. In view of the serious allegations against petitioner Sakattar Singh, no ground is made out for grant of pre-arrest bail to him as the investigation is at initial stage. The petition bearing Crl. Misc. No. M-14388 of 2011 filed by petitioner Sakattar Singh is dismissed. August 25, 2011 (M.M.S.BEDI) sanjay JUDGE