In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh ...... Criminal Misc. No.M-34733 of 2009 ..... Date of decision:25.2.2010 Sukhbir Singh .....Petitioner v. State of Punjab .....Respondent .... Present: Mr. Avtar Singh Khinda, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Shilesh Gupta, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab for the respondent-State. ..... S.S. Saron, J. The petitioner seeks pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him for the offences under Sections 307, 326, 324, 341, 148 and 149 IPC. Heard learned counsel for the parties. The petitioner is not named as an accused in the FIR that has been registered on the statement of Rachhpal Singh alias Pala. According to the complainant on 4.6.2009 he along with Surjit Singh and Prem Kumar were at the fair of Baba Sukhchain Dass in the school ground. At about 2.30 p.m. they were sitting in the shadow of Banyan tree that Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi armed with Datar, Prince armed with Datar and Sukhjinder Singh alias Hero armed with Khanda, Amandeep Singh alias Amna armed with Khanda, Monu armed with Datar along with 10-12 young persons armed with Datars and Khandas encircled them. Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi gave a blow to the complainant-Rachhpal Singh. He raised his right hand to save himself and the blow hit on his arm. Then Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi Cr. Misc. No.M-34733 of 2009 [2] gave another blow which hit on his left side of head. Injuries were caused by the others also. The petitioner came to be named as an accused on the statement made by Gurpreet Singh before the Police. The statement of a co- accused cannot by itself be treated as substantive evidence and this aspect is to be considered and gone into by the trial Court after evidence has been led. The co-accused of the petitioner, namely, Manpreet Singh alias Manga who is similarly placed has been granted the concession of bail by this Court vide order dated 22.10.2009 passed in Criminal Misc. No.M-24603 of 2009. In consequence of the interim bail granted on 16.12.2009, the petitioner has joined the investigation. Learned counsel for the State, on instructions from ASI Satpal Singh, Police Station Shahpur, District Jalandhar, has submitted that the custody of the petitioner is not required for the purposes of investigation. In the circumstances, the interim bail granted on 16.12.2009 is made absolute. The criminal miscellaneous petition stands disposed of. February 25, 2010. (S.S. Saron) Judge *hsp*