Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: March 10 , 2010 Crl.Misc. No. M-22696 of 2009 (O&M) Gurmeet Singh and others ...........Petitioners Versus State of Punjab and others ..........Respondents Crl.Misc. No. M-19710 of 2009 (O&M) Gurmeet Singh ...........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ..........Respondent Coram: Hon'ble Mrs.Justice Sabina Present: Mr.S.K.Garg Narwana, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr.V.K.Jindal, Additional Advocate General,Punjab None for CBI Sabina, J. Vide this order, the above-mentioned two Criminal Misc. petitions are being disposed of by a common order as they relate to the same occurrence. Criminal Misc. No. M-22696 of 2009 petition has been filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure(for short`Cr.P.C.') for issuance of a direction to the respondents to hand over the investigation in the matter of case FIR No.105 dated 11.6.2009, Police Station Gurdaspur under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (`IPC' for short) to other Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 2 investigating Agency as the local police was not properly investigating the case. Criminal Misc. No. M-19710 of 2009 was registered as the complaint received from Gurmit Singh was ordered to be taken up on judicial side. Complainant-Gurmit Singh had sought a direction that FIR be registered against Gurbachan Singh, MLA and others for murder of his young son-Balwinder Singh. The case of the petitioners, in brief,is that petitioner No.1 was resident of Village Babbehali. He had two sons, namely, Balwinder Singh, aged 28 years and Palwinder Singh aged 26 years. Balwinder Singh was married and was having one son aged about 7 years-petitioner No.3. Petitioner No.1 and his family were supporters of Congress I. In the Assembly election held in 2007, petitioner No.1 and his family had voted and supported Pritam Singh Bhinder who was contesting for Gurdaspur Assembly Constituency on Congress I ticket. Gurbachan Singh was a candidate of Shiromani Akali Dal. Gurbachan Singh was chairman of Punjab Milkfed and was a close confidant of the Chief Minister. Recently, Partap Singh Bajwa had contested the election from Gurdaspur on Congress I ticket and Vinod Khanna had stood joint candidate for Bhartiya Janta Party (`BJP' for short) and Shiromani Akali Dali (`SAD' for short). Gurbachan Singh MLA and his son Amarjot Singh had come to the house of petitioner No.1 and has requested him and his family members to support Vinod Khanna. On 2.12.2007 at about 5.30 P.M. Ajit Singh, Kashmir Singh and Gurmukh Singh along with 8/9 unknown persons armed with wooden batons entered the house of petitioner No. 1 and started abusing him and Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 3 also threatened petitioner No.1. They also caused injuries to petitioner No.1 and his son-Balwinder Singh. No action was taken by the Police on the complaint filed by petitioner No.1 and qua the said incident petitioner had to file a criminal complaint. On 17.5.2009, Gurbachan Singh MLA, his son Amarjot Singh (Sarpanch), Ajit Singh, Kashmir Singh and Gurmukh Singh along with five unknown persons forcibly ploughed the sugar cane fields of petitioner No.1 and on the next day, they cut the standing trees in the fields and took away the same in the tractors. A complaint was lodged with the police but no FIR was registered qua the said incident. On 19.5.2009. a telegram was also sent by the petitioners to the higher authorities but no action was taken on the said telegram. On 10.6.2009 at about 9.00 p.m. petitioner No.1 and his son were present in their house. Gurbachan Singh MLA and his son Amarjot Singh, Parmod Kumar SHO and several gunmen came to the house of petitioner No.1 and asked petitioner No.1 to reach the residence of MLA Gurbachan Singh to resolve the dispute between petitioner No.1 and Ajit Singh etc. Petitioner No.1 alongwith his son Balwinder Singh went to the house of Gurbachan Singh MLA. After some discussion, petitioner No.1 returned back home leaving his son-Balwinder Singh at the house of Gurbachan Singh MLA. However, the son of the petitioner No.1 did not return back home and on 11.6.2009 at about 5.30 a.m., the dead body of Balwinder Singh was recovered from Canal minor of village Pahra. The police had not properly investigated the matter regarding the murder of the son of the petitioner by the accused. State of Punjab, in its reply, in Criminal Misc. No. 22696 of 2009 Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 4 has submitted that FIR No.105 dated 11.6.2009 under Section 302 IPC was registered after the dead body of Balwinder Singh was recovered from the canal minor. It has been further submitted in the reply as under:- "During the investigation, the call detail of the mobile phone of Gurbachan Singh MLA was obtained for the 10.15 AM on 10.6.2009 to 10.37 PM on 11.6.2009 and according to the call details, Mr. Gurbachan Singh Babehali was not in village Babehali from 7.00 PM to 11.00 PM on 10.6.2009 rather his mobile phone Towers show his location as Ghot Poker, Nangal Kotli, Tibri Road, Gurdaspur and Gurdaspur town. This fact shows that the version of the petitioner No.1 that MLA alongwith his sons and Parmod Kumar SHO alongwith Gunmen came to his house and called them for compromise is totally false. Further the statements of about 30 persons, show that Gurbachan Singh MLA alongwith his sons and Parmod Kumar SHO alongwith Gunmen came to his house and called them for compromise is totally false. Further the statements of about 30 persons show that Gurbachan Singh MLA and his son Amarjot Singh were not present in village Babehali from 7.00 PM to 11.00 PM on 10.6.2009. Beside the call details of Mobile phone of Parmod Kumar SHO has also been obtained for 10.6.2009 from 7.16 AM to 11.37 PM and the Mobile Phone Towers show that Parmod Kumar was not in Gurdaspur District but he was present in Chandigrh and Ropar during this period, which fact further falsify the version of the petitioner Gurmit Singh recorded in his statement in question. The call details of mobile phones of G.S.Bebehali, MLA and SI Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 5 Parmod Kumar are attached as Annexure R1 and RII. As far as Ajit Singh son of Sohan Singh and his sons Kashmir Singh and Gurmukh Singh are concerned, from the investigation, it has came out that Ajit Singh and Gurmit Singh are real brothers and there is land dispute between them. As per the statements of witnesses belonging to locality of the petitioner No.1 they had not seen any police employee or gunmen or MLA or his son coming to the house of petitioner No.1 on the night of 10.6.2009 at 9.00 PM so the names of Ajit Singh and his sons have been seems to be mentioned due to personal grudge by the petitioner No.1 Further from the investigation and statements of witnesses the deceased Balwinder Singh had met with an accident on 9.6.2009 and he visited Civil Hospital Gurdaspur in drunken condition for treatment and he was given a slip for bringing medicines and injection but he did not return back for treatment. The statement of Dr. Manoj Gupta has been recorded u/s 161 Cr.P.C. recorded by IO on 12.6.2009 which is Annexure RIII and its English Translation is Annexure R-III/T. From the statements of other witnesses namely Narinder Singh son of Shamsher Singh r/o Shankar Nagar,Gurdaspur, Avtar Singh son of Parkash Singh r/o Nangal Kotli, Palwinder Singh son of Fauja Singh r/o Ghurala, etc. it was revealed that Balwinder Singh whose nick name was Tona had met with an accident near village Gurala on 9.6.2009. Further from the opinion of the Board of Doctors, Civil Hospital, Gurdaspur, the time between the injury and death is 24 hours, Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 6 which fact shows that the deceased died due to injuries received by him in the accident, on 9.6.2009. The opinion of the Board of Doctors of Civil Hospital, Gurdaspur is attached as Annexure R4. So from the investigation, all the persons mentioned in the statement in question of Gurmit Singh petitioner No.1 were found innocent during the investigation, so there was no need to arrest them. It is submitted that S.P. (Detective) Gurdaspur has also perused the case file and was in agreement with the investigation conducted by the deponent. S.P.(D) has given case diary 15 dated 2.9.09 to this effect". The Central Bureau of Investigation, in its reply, in Criminal Misc. No.22696 of 2009 has submitted that it was only the presumption of the petitioners that they may not get justice from the State Administration and police machinery. The case was local in nature and did not have inter state or transnational ramifications Punjab Police is well equipped and has trained the Investigating Officers. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the opinion that the instant petition deserves dismissal. The dead body of the son of the petitioner No.1 was recovered on 11.6.2009 and on the same day FIR No.105 dated 11.6.2009 was registered under Section 302 IPC. The matter has been thoroughly investigated by the Police. Learned State counsel, during the course of arguments, has submitted that the Investigating Agency will furnish its final report before the Court within ten days. The final report had not been submitted so far as a stay order had been passed by this Court. Criminal Misc. No.M-22696 of 2009(O&M) 7 Since the matter in question has been duly investigated by the Police and they are almost ready with the final report, no interference by this Court is called for. In case, the Investigating Agency submits a cancellation report, the petitioners will have their remedy to file protest petition and the Magistrate who shall proceed further with the matter in accordance with law. No ground for interference is made out. Accordingly, both the petitions are dismissed. (Sabina) Judge March 10, 2010 arya