IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 Date of decision : 5.3.2010 Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and another …. Petitioners Versus State of Punjab …. Respondent and Crl. Misc. No. M -480 of 2010 Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu …. Petitioner Versus State of Punjab …. Respondent Present: Mr. Gurcharan Dass, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Shilesh Gupta, DAG, Punjab. Mr. Y.M Bhagirath, Advocate for the complainant. **** S.S. SARON, J. Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in Crl. Misc. No. M-2968 of 2010) and Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in Crl. Misc. No. M- 480 of 2010) seek regular bail in a case registered against them on Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [2] 9.6.2008 for the offences under Sections 302, 307, 326, 324, 506, 148/149 Indian Penal Code (“IPC” – for short). Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) is in custody since 19.1.2009 and Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) are in custody since 15.6.2008. The FIR in the case has been registered on the statement of the complainant Sahib Singh in respect of the incident that occurred on 8.6.2008. The petitioners in the respective petitions are not named as accused in the FIR that was initially lodged. However, it is stated that they were merely present at the time occurrence. The challan in the case was filed by the police on 1.9.2008 in which Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) were sent up for trial. Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) was not sent up for trial. Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) in fact had not been arrested at that time and he was arrested on 19.1.2009. In the occurrence of 8.6.2008, it is alleged by the complainant Sahib Singh that he and Harvinder Singh son of Saghar Singh were standing in front of Punjab and Sind Bank at about 7.30 p.m. and conversing amongst themselves. At that time, from the side of Haibowal, Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi – son of the complainant came on his motorcycle on which Dharminder Singh son of Saghar Singh was riding pillion. They raised a hue and cry of “mar ditta mar ditta”. They threw their motorcycle and entered the ‘karyana’ shop of Vasudev @ Kakkar. Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi – son of the complainant Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [3] and Dharminder Singh were followed on motorcycles by Harpreet Singh and his brother Kuldeep Singh sons of Bahadur Singh armed with kirpans and Nikka @ Jawala son of Jaila as also Deep son of Amarjit also armed with kirpans and 5-6 other un-identified persons armed with kirpans and gandasas. Dharminder Singh and Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi closed the shutter of the shop. The counter of the shop being half outside the shutter could not be closed. Then Harpreet Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Nikka, Deep and the un-identified persons accompanied them and they lifted the shutter of the shop. On hearing the noise, the complainant and Harvinder Singh also came in front of the shop of Vasudev @ Kakkar. Harpreet Singh and Kuldeep Singh aforesaid attacked Dharminder Singh with kirpans and his both arms were badly injured. The accused also inflicted injuries with their respective weapons with an intention of kill Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi – son of the complainant and Dharminder Singh. Harpreet Singh and his companion Kuldeep Singh gave kirpan blows on the head and left arms and the leg of the son of the complainant namely Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi. The complainant and Harvinder Singh also raised hue and cry “bachao – bachao” while standing outside. Then Vasudev @ Kakkar and other neighbouring shopkeepers left their shops due to fear and went here and there. All the assailants then along with their respective weapons ran away towards Halwara side on their motorcycles. The complainant and Harvinder Singh arranged a vehicle and they took Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi – son of the complainant and Dharminder Singh brother of Harvinder Singh firstly to Civil Hospital, Pakhowal who on seeing the multiple injuries asked them to take the injured to Ludhiana. The complainant and Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [4] Harvinder Singh took Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi and Dharminder Singh for treatment to DMC, Hospital, Ludhiana where Dharminder Singh was declared as dead and treatment of Kuldeep Singh was started. The cause of the grudge was that about a month ago, son the complainant namely Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi along with Dharminder Singh (deceased) and other boys had caused injuries to Harpreet Singh. Due to the said grudge, Harpreet Singh along with his companions attacked Kuldeep Singh son of the complainant and Dharminder Singh and they murdered Dharminder Singh and seriously injured Kuldeep Singh. The statement of the complainant was recorded on 9.6.2008. The supplementary statement (Annexure P8 of the complainant Sahib Singh was recorded on 9.6.2008 in CRM No. M- 2968 of 2010). In the said statement, it is stated by the complainant that in the morning, he was perplexed and was in a hurry. He had come for arranging the money for treatment of his son namely Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi. As such, at that time he could not give the entire details in his statement. Now, he was getting his statement recorded in full senses. It is stated that on 8.6.2008 at about 7.30 p.m. the complainant and Harvinder Singh were conversing with each other while standing in front of Punjab and Sind Bank, Pakhowal. At that time from the side of Halwara, his son Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi came on his motorcycle on which Dharminder Singh (deceased) was riding pillion. While raising noise of “mar ditta mar ditta”, they threw their motorcycle and entered the shop of Vasudev @ Kakkar. They were chased by three motorcycles. On the first motorcycle, Harpreet Singh and Kuldeep Singh, on the second motorcycle, Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [5] Gurpreet Singh @ Goda and Narinder Pal Singh @ Nindru were riding. On the third motorcycle Manpreet Singh @ Jaspal Singh @ Noni and Ajay Kumar @ Takkri armed with kirpans were riding. Kuldeep Singh (son of the complainant) and Dharminder Singh closed the shutter of the shop which, however, could not roll down completely due to the counter of the shop which was half outside. Harpreet Singh and other aforesaid assailants came and lifted the shutter of the shop with their hands and entered the shop and started giving beatings with kirpans to Dharminder Singh and Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi. In the meantime, one Tata Sumo vehicle with 7-8 boys came and they got down armed with kirpans and dandas. They stood outside the shop while facing towards the road and were raising raula and stating that if anybody came near, he would also meet the same fate as was being meted by the persons inside. They said no one should come forwards. The boys standing outside were Kulwinder Singh @ Nikka @ Jawala, Hardeep Singh @ Tappal, Jaswant Singh, Rajdeep Singh @ Raj (petitioner No.1 in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010), Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioner No.2 in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) Harpreet Singh, Paramjit Singh and Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu @ Rajinder Singh (petitioner in CRM No.M-480 of 2010). Harpreet Singh has been granted the concession of bail vide order dated 1.12.2009 passed in CRM No. M-2687 of 2010. Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) had kept the Tata Sumo vehicle running. The complainant and Harvinder Singh were standing on the side of Punjab and Sind Bank. Inside Dharminder Singh and the son of the complainant Kuldeep Singh @ Ravi were raising raula “mar ditta mar Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [6] ditta”. The complainant and Harvinder Singh raised hue and cry of “bachao bachao” while standing outside. Then Vasudev @ Kakkar and other neighbouring shopkeepers left their shops due to fear and went here and there. Then from the shop of Vasudev @ Kakkar, that assailants namely Harpreet Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Ajay Kumar @ Takkri, Nindru and Manpreet Singh @ Jaspal Singh @ Noni came out and their clothes were stained with blood. They were armed with kirpans which were also stained with blood. The role therefore which is attributed to Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) is similar to that of Harpreet Singh who has been granted the concession of bail vide order dated 1.12.2009 passed by this Court in CRM No. M-2687 of 2010. They did not take any active part in the occurrence and were standing outside. The role attributed to Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) is that he had kept the engine of the Tata Sumo vehicle running while the attack was going on. Therefore, he has not actually participated in the occurrence. The petitioners in the respective petitions, as has already been noticed, have been in custody for the last more than one year. Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in CRM No. M-480 of 2010) is in custody since 19.1.2009 while Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) are in custody since 15.6.2008. Till date, no evidence has been recorded. Accordingly, CRM No.M-480 of 2010 and CRM No. M- 2968 of 2010 are allowed and keeping in view the facts and Crl. Misc. No. M -2968 of 2010 [7] circumstances, the respective petitioners i.e. Rajdeep Singh @ Raj and Rajwinder Singh @ Raju (petitioners in CRM No. M-2968 of 2010) and Rajinder Singh @ Davinder Singh @ Chinta @ Sonu (petitioner in Crl. Misc. No. M-480 of 2010) in the respective petitions on their furnishing personal bonds and surety each to the satisfaction of the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana shall be admitted to bail. (S.S. SARON) JUDGE March 5, 2010 amit