In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh ...... Criminal Misc. No.M-10767 of 2010 ..... Date of decision:9.4.2010 Ankur Salaria .....Petitioner v. State of Punjab .....Respondent .... Present: Mr. Vishal Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner. ..... S.S. Saron, J. The petitioner seeks pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him under Sections 307, 452, 323, 324, 506, 148 and 149 Indian Penal Code (`IPC’ – for short). The FIR in the case has been registered on the statement of Kewal Krishan who runs an optical shop by the name of Kewal Optical at Lottery Market near Clock Tower, Ludhiana. On 19.12.2009 at about 2.00 p.m., Anil Anand alias Monu who runs a Lottery shop by the name of Shiv Agency was going to start a generator near the shop of the complainant Kewal Krishan. The complainant stopped him from starting the generator. At that time his sons Ranjit Singh alias Gora and Harvinder Singh alias Gogi were with him (complainant). An altercation ensued between Anil Anand alias Monu who was forcibly starting the generator. Others from the market pacified Monu and sent him away. At about 3.00 p.m., Monu along Cr. Misc. No.M-10767 of 2010 [2] with Banta, Topi, Amit Kumar alias Manu, Vikas, Ankur (petitioner) along with 7-8 unidentified persons came there. Monu, Banta, Amit Kumar alias Manu were carrying Kirpan. Topi had a Dah and others were carrying baseball bats and Dangs. They suddenly came and forcibly entered the shop of the complainant and attacked him with an intention to kill him. Monu gave a Kirpan blow on the person of Ranjit Singh alias Gora son of the complainant. Ranjit Singh alias Gora raised his left hand to ward-off the blow and the Kirpan hit him on his left hand. Banta gave a Kirpan blow to Gogi the other son of the complainant who raised his hand to save himself but the Kirpan hit him on his head. Topi inflicted a Dah blow on the person of the complainant and he raised his left hand to save himself and the Dah hit him on his thumb. Then Amit alias Manu gave a Kirpan blow to Gora son of the complainant which hit him on his chest. The others damaged the shop of the complainant with baseball bats and dangs and caused internal injuries to three of them. Anil Anand alias Monu raised a `Lalkara’ that they be not left dry today. The complainant side raised an alarm of `Maar Ditta Maar Ditta’, then all the persons ran away with their respective weapons. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the complainant had business rivalry with Mukesh Kumar due to which the complainant along with his sons and others caused injuries to the petitioner as well as his associates with sharp edged weapons. It is submitted that Vikas Chhabra, co-accused of the petitioner suffered injury with sharp edged weapons which were declared dangerous to life. A reference has been made to MLR (Annexure-P.1) of Vikas Chhabra. It is submitted that, in fact, it is the complainant who caused injuries to the petitioners and his Cr. Misc. No.M-10767 of 2010 [3] associates. The complainant got his statement recorded at Clock Tower, Ludhiana at about 8.10 p.m. on 19.12.2009. In fact, the column of FIR shows that the information had been received at 5.15 p.m. It is submitted that the injured was admitted in the hospital at 2.59 p.m. that is much earlier to lodging of the FIR. It is submitted that the incident had occurred at a busy road at Lottery market near Clock Tower within the proximity of 10 yards from the Clock Tower. The Police, it is alleged instead of registering FIR against the complainant side has registered it against the petitioner under political pressure. In fact, a case under Section 307 IPC besides other offences stands registered against the complainant. The injuries that have been found on the person of Vikas Chhabra are dangerous to life. It is submitted that Vikas Chhabra has been granted interim bail by this Court on 26.3.2010 (Annexure-P.4). Besides, the petitioner though named in the FIR is not attributed any role whatsoever. After giving my thoughtful consideration to the matter, it may be noticed that the petitioner Ankur is one of the assailants who had come armed with a baseball bat to the shop of the complainant-Kewal Krishan. He along with others as per the version in the FIR had assaulted the complainant and his sons Ranjit Singh alias Gora and Harvinder Singh alias Gogi. They damaged the shop of the complainant with baseball bats. A perusal of the order dated 11.2.2010 (Anexure-P.3) in terms of which pre- arrest bail has been declined to the petitioner Ankur Salaria it was observed that he was armed with baseball bat and had caused injury on the left leg of Kewal Krishan. Therefore, a specific injury is attributed to the petitioner on the left leg of Kewal Krishan. Even though the said injury is not mentioned in the FIR but it is on record that the petitioner caused an injury and he was Cr. Misc. No.M-10767 of 2010 [4] carrying a baseball bat. As such, it is evident that he participated in the occurrence. The fact that Vikas Chhabra had been granted pre-arrest bail by this Court vide order dated 26.3.2010 (Anexure-P.4) is quite inconsequential. A perusal of the said order shows that Vikas Chhabra himself suffered an injury which was opined to be dangerous to life. Besides, he is not attributed any injury to anyone of the complainant side. The learned Sessions Judge, Ludhiana while declining bail to the petitioner vide order dated 11.2.2010 (Annexure-P.3) observed that custodial interrogation of the petitioner and his co-applicant Mukesh Kumar alias Topi was essential as weapons allegedly used by them in the occurrence are to be recovered. Besides, the accomplices of the applicants had been refused anticipatory bail by an earlier order dated 8.2.2010. In the order dated 5.2.2010 (Annexure-P.2) while considering the application for bail filed by Anil Kumar alias Manu and Anil Anand alias Monu, who are from the petitioner side herein it was observed that there were three injuries on the person of Ranjit Singh son of the complainant Kewal Krishan out of which one had been declared grievous which is attributed to Anil Anand and the other were simple in nature which were attributed to Amit Kumar. Besides, there were three injuries on the person of Harvinder Singh out of which one was declared simple and the other two have been kept under observation. The manner in which the assault has been committed by the petitioner along with others and he was carrying a baseball bat with which he also caused injury on the leg of Kewal Krishan would not entitle him to the concession of pre-arrest bail. In the circumstances, no ground for grant of pre-arrest bail to the petitioner is made out. The criminal miscellaneous petition is Cr. Misc. No.M-10767 of 2010 [5] accordingly dismissed. April 9, 2010. (S.S. Saron) Judge *preeti/hsp*