Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 -1- IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 (O&M) Date of Decision : 17.2.2011 Mohan Singh .......... petitioners Versus State of Punjab & others ...... Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE Ms. JUSTICE RITU BAHRI Present : Mr. R.K. Dadwal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Munish Kumar, AAG, Punjab. **** RITU BAHRI, J. Present petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been filed for directing the respondents to convert DDR No. 13(A) dated 21.12.2009 to that of FIR under Section 302 IPC. A further prayer has been made to hand over the investigation to the CBI or to some other independent agency to inquire into the murder of Narotam Singh. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner is unfortunate father of Narotam Singh, who was just 19 years of age and under suspicious circumstances his dead body was found from the Kandi Canal on 23.12.2009. The dead body was recovered from Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 -2- about 200 meters away from the house of the brother of the petitioner. As per the proceedings initiated under Section 174 Cr.P.C. cause of death is drowning. As per the petition, at the time of recovery of dead body there was no water found in the stomach, as per the postmortem report. A request was made to register FIR but the proceedings were closed by recording under Section 174 Cr.P.C. In view of the attending circumstances this is not a case of suicide. On the fateful day Narotam Singh had requested his mother to boil eggs as well as milk and gone out for jogging. He had planned to go to the flour mill. The petitioner was informed by one Vijay Kumar son of Onkar in the month of February, 2010 that he had seen Narotam Singh going back to his house and one vehicle was also going after him. After about ten minutes he heard a cry. The petitioner suspects that there was a foul play on Narotam Singh and has been murdered. It is submitted that about 8-9 months back there was a scuffle between three persons of Bhadiara village namely Bali, Kirpal's son and one person son of Yashpal from Rakhri. They had threatened the father of the petitioner with dire consequences. All these boys were in drunken condition, so the matter was not reported to the police. Reference is being made to a person from a neighboring village, whose height was 5'-9”. He met the petitioner 3-4 times in a very dangerous manner. One lady who is residing along with the canal had informed the police that she heard the cry of a person in the morning of 21.12.2009 and a vehicle was seen by her. Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 -3- Once the petitioner had shown suspicion, it was mandatory under Section 164 Cr.P.C. to investigate the matter. Investigation is being sought on the ground that no mobile phone was recovered from the place of dead body and the very fact that there was no water in the stomach and the blood was oozing out from the nasal and mouth, therefore, there was doubt that he was murdered and then thrown in the canal. In view of the above circumstances, this petition has been filed to get the matter investigated from the CBI. An affidavit of Dharamvir Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sub Division Mukerian, District Hoshiarpur has been filed on 3.11.2010. As per the affidavit on a statement dated 23.12.2009, made by Keshav Singh, brother of the petitioner, no offence was made out and as such proceedings under Section 174 Cr.P.C. was made and DDR No. 25 dated 23.12.2009 under Section 174 Cr.P.C. was recorded in the Daily Diary Report in PS Hajipur, District Hoshiarpur. It was recorded in this report that after the post mortem report, the proceedings would be initiated as per findings. Call details of mobile No. 9815428194 and 9878212784 of deceased Narotam Singh were received from the concerned Telephone Department. After receiving the call details of the mobile phones of the deceased Narotam Singh, Vijay Kumar son of Bishan Dass r/o Namoly PS Hajipur was questioned by the police. Thereafter police questioned Bali alias Bari Singh son of Bhan Singh and his son Rajinder Kumar alias Vicky r/o village Bhadiara, Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakhu son of Kirpal Singh Rajput, resident of Bhadiara, P.S. Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 -4- Hajipur, and Rakesh Kumar alias Kechhu son of Jaspal Singh r/o Rakhari, P.S. Hajipur. However, after investigation no clue, whatsoever, was got from them. The Doctor, who conducted post mortem upon the deceased Narotam Singh opined that the cause of death was drowning which is ante meridian in nature and is sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature and vishra was sent to the Chemical Examiner to Govt. Punjab at Kharar, District Mohali for report. Report from Dr. Rajwinder Pal Singh. Asst. Chemical Examiner to Govt. of Punjab, Kharar District Mohali was received wherein it was reported that no poison was detected in the contents of Ex. I, II, III, IV and V. As per the affidavit, the body was recovered from 200 meters away from the house of the brother of the petitioner. DDR No. 25 dated 23.12.2009 was recorded by the police of Police Station Hajipur on the statement of brother of the petitioner and the proceedings under Section 174 Cr.P.C. was made. Thereafter the call details of mobile number 9815428194 and 9878212784 of deceased Narotam Singh were received from the telephone department and subsequently all persons in contact with him were questioned. Since, no clue was got from them, no case under Section 302 IPC was register at police station Hajipur. After filing of report by the DSP, an additional affidavit by Mohan Singh-petitioner was filed for handing over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In the petition it has been alleged that the petitioner was Crl. Misc. No. M-25101 of 2010 -5- never called to the police station for recording his statement. As per the postmortem report one injury existed on the leg, no opinion has been sought as to how the same was suffered by the deceased. As per the medical jurisprudence, in a case of drowning, the doctor was supposed to write the condition of the skin of hands and feet, but the same has not been done. Mr. R.K. Dadwal, learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that as per the contents of the additional affidavit filed by the petitioner, ends of justice would meet if a direction is given by this Court that an inquiry be conducted by a team headed by Superintendent of Police to finally examine the cause of death of deceased Narotam Singh by examining all the factors. This criminal miscellaneous is disposed of with a direction to respondent No.3, Director General of Police, Punjab, Chandigarh to get an inquiry conducted by a team headed by Superintendent of Police to examine the cause of death of deceased Narotam Singh by examining all the factors, the inquiry will be completed within a period of six weeks. 17.2.2011 (RITU BAHRI) 'sp' JUDGE