Baldev Singh vs State Of Punjab

A civil suit was filed by the deceased Pritam Singh against his nephew Harbhinder Singh, Tehal Singh and his brother Baldev Singh seeking declaration that the sale deed executed on 21st October, 1997 on the basis of a Power of Attorney dated 15th October 1990 is null and void as it was allegedly forged and fabricated.

On or about 17.2.2001 at about 11.00 a.m., when Pritam Singh was making preparation to leave his house in Paragpur for Jalandhar (Punjab), he was killed at his residence. The said incident was allegedly witnessed by Nath Ram (P.W. 25), who was a servant of Pritam Singh for last 40 years and Parminder @ Bittu, the driver of the deceased.

On 20.2.2001, Harbhinder Singh was arrested from the Indira Gandhi International Air Port at Delhi while he was about to leave for London. On the same day, one Avtar Singh was also arrested by the police.

On 23.2.2001, both Harbhinder Singh as well as Avtar Singh made disclosure statements to the police. Pursuant to the recording of the alleged disclosure, some recoveries were made on the pointing out of the accused persons, including two empty cartridges allegedly fired from the gun.

3. The learned Additional Sessions Judge framed charges against Harbhinder Singh and Avtar Singh under Section 302/450 IPC read with 34 IPC and Sections 25/27 of the Arms Act.

4. Indisputably, appellant - Baldev Singh left India on 16th February 2001 for Vancouver. He returned to India on 19th August, 2004. His arrival at Delhi Airport was communicated to SSP, Jalandhar. On the basis of this information, ASI Harpal Singh (P.W. 13) after obtaining production warrants arrested Baldev Singh on 20th August, 2004. A supplementary report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ("Code" for short) was filed against him on 24th August 2005. Charge was framed against him under Section 120-B IPC on 19th September, 2005. He pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

The learned Sessions Judge conducted the trial against the appellant separately and examined as many as 28 prosecution witnesses. The learned Sessions Judge found him guilty for commission of an offence under Section 302 read with 120B IPC and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/-, and in default whereof to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 6 months.

6. Indisputably, the incident took place on 17.2.2001. Appellant had left India for Vancouver (Canada) on 16.2.2001, i.e., a day prior to the date of incident. He came back to India in August 2004 when he was arrested. The main accused, namely, Avtar Singh and Harbhinder Singh, however, were tried separately. We may notice that Harbhinder Singh 9 was found guilty under Section 302 IPC and Avtar Singh was found guilty under Section 302/34 IPC. They were also found guilty under Section 450 IPC. Whereas Harbhinder Singh was also found guilty under Section 27 of the Arms Act, Avtar Singh was found guilty under Section 25 thereof.

As noticed hereinbefore, neither Avtar Singh nor Harbhinder Singh were charged for commission of offence punishable under Section 120B 15 IPC. In our opinion, therefore, appellant alone could not have been convicted under Section 302 read with Section 120B of the IPC.

After going through the evidence of Chhota Singh (PW 7), we do not find it safe to hold any of the appellants guilty in the present crime."

12. For the aforementioned reasons, the impugned judgment being unsustainable is set aside. The appeal is allowed. The appellant is in custody; he is directed to be set at liberty unless wanted in connection with any other case.

May 06, 2009