Crl. Misc. No. M-19748 of 2010 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-19748 of 2010 (O&M) Date of Decision: July 27, 2010 Jaswinder Singh ........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab ........Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. R.K. Kapila, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Amandeep Singh Rai, AAG, Punjab. SABINA, J. Petitioner has filed this petition under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for grant of pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.67 dated 26.5.2010, under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code, Police Station- Majitha, District- Amritsar Rural. The contents of the FIR read as under:- “................Sir, it is respectfully stated that we, Mukhwinder Singh s/o Wassan Singh and Gurinder Singh s/o Parkash Singh are residents of Village Po. Majitha.That Jaswinder Singh @ Cheema s/o Mohinder Singh r/o Kasrana, Police Station Hajipur, Distt. Hoshiarpur and Hardev Singh @ Babbi s/o Chanan Singh r/o Village Dugrian, PS Mukerian, Distt. Hishiarpur, who are engaged in selling wood and are known to us. Around Crl. Misc. No. M-19748 of 2010 (O&M) 2 4 months back abovesaid Hardev Singh @ Babbi and Jaswinder Singh Cheema came to us at Majitha and told us that at Kalyanpur Village, near Dasuya, they have a big lot of popular lying with them and they will give us at concessional rate, if we want to buy then we should let them know. We went alongwith them and saw the lot of popular and we had a deal for Rs.31,00,000 (Rs. Thirty One lacs). On dated 16.12.09 the abovesaid Jaswinder Singh Cheema and Hardev Singh @ Babbi came to our house at Majitha and asked us to pay them some advance money, on this we paid Rs.2,00,000/- (Rs. Two lacs) in cash to abovesaid Jaswinder Singh Cheema and Hardev Singh @ Babbi, as earnest money, at our house in Majitha, in the presence of Amarjit Singh Vice President Municipal Council, Majitha and Jai Pal Mahajan s.o SH. Dhani Ram r/o Majitha and fixed first week of March as time for cutting the popular trees. When in the first week of March, we went to village Kalyanpur with labour to cut the trees, then we found that there was no popular tree standing there and the trees which were shown to us by the abovesaid accused, they were cut by some one else. Lateron we came to know that abovesaid Jaswinder Singh @ Cheema and Hardev Singh @ Babbi have sold off the popular trees to someone else on higher rate. When we asked the abovesaid accused that they had struck a deal with us for the trees but why they sold it to Crl. Misc. No. M-19748 of 2010 (O&M) 3 someone else then they said that it is their wish they can sell it to whosoever they want. When we asked them to pay back our Rs.2,00,000/- (Rs. two lacs) then they made excuses. 10 days back when we went to the abovesaid accused to take our money back then they said, “we will not give you back even a single penny, you can do whatever you want, if you again came to us asking for money then we will break your legs and arms and will kill you, you cannot harm us in any manner, we have high up links”. In this way abovesaid Jaswinder Singh @ Cheema and Hardev Singh @ Babbi have cheated us for Rs.2,00,000/- by defrauding us. Therefore, we request you that strict legal action be taken against these accused and our money be got recovered and strict punishment be given to the accused. We shall be greatful to you. With thanks. Dated 23.3.10. applicant Sd/- Mukhwinder Singh, Mukhwinder Singh s/o Wassan Singh and Gurinder Singh s/o SH. Parkash Singh r/o Village & PO Majitha....” Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner is innocent and has been falsely involved in this case. Learned State counsel, on the hand, has submitted that the petitioner and his co-accused had cheated the complainant. Petitioner is required for custodial interrogation. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, I am of the opinion that the instant petition deserves dismissal. Crl. Misc. No. M-19748 of 2010 (O&M) 4 The allegations levelled against the petitioner are serious in nature. The petitioner is required for custodial interrogation. Petitioner and his co-accused had duped the complainant of Rs.2 lacs. Dismissed. (SABINA) July 27, 2010 JUDGE Anand