State Of Punjab vs Jagga Singh Etc

The prosecution case in brief is as follows: PW1 Balwinder Kaur is the mother of the deceased Satnam Singh. PW2 Gurmeet Kaur is his wife. They were originally living in Village Gholia Khurd and 10 years prior to occurrence they had shifted to Ludhiana. Satnam Singh was working with one Jugraj Singh for two years and thereafter he started working with Avtar Singh and Surjeet Singh. On 09.11.2002 at about 7/8 P.M. Satnam Singh received a call on his mobile phone from certain persons from village Dhandra asking him to do some earthwork and it was agreed that they should come next morning at 5.30 A.M. Satnam Singh sent a message to his partner Avtar Singh about the visit of the callers for going to the plot. On 10.11.2002 at 5 A.M. on hearing the door bell PW1 Balwinder Kaur opened the door. Two persons aged about 30 and 40 respectively wrapping themselves in Chaddars were standing outside and they were let in. On the direction of Satnam Singh his wife PW2 Gurmeet Kaur prepared tea and after taking it both went outside and asked Satnam Singh to come alongwith them on his scooter to see the plot. Satnam Singh took out his scooter and while he was starting it both the visitors took out pistols from the respective folds of their garments and fired at Satnam Singh who fell on the scooter. PW2 Gurmeet Kaur fell upon Satnam Singh and in the meanwhile Avtar Singh also reached the spot. Both the assailants ran away. PW1 Balwinder Kaur heard the noise of starting of some vehicle from the other side of the road and she suspected that the assailants had boarded the said vehicle for fleeing from the spot.

PW1 Balwinder Kaur gave Exh.PA statement at 7.30A.M. and same was recorded by sub inspector, Gurpreet Singh at Hambran Road and he prepared Exh. PA/2 FIR at 7.45 A.M. and reached the spot. PW6 fingerprint expert Surinder Singh raised the fingerprints from two glasses and both the glasses were made into a sealed parcel and handed over to the sub inspector Gurpreet Singh in memo No. Exh. PW23/B. Scooter of Satnam Singh, footwear of left foot lying on the spot, two empty cartridges of .12 bore were also seized from the occurrence place. Besides two .303 country made pistals with two live cartridges were also recovered from the spot. He prepared Exh.PD/5 inquest report and sent the body for post mortem.

Accused Charanjit Singh and Jagga Singh were arrested on 21.11.2002 and were identified by PW1 Balwinder Kaur and PW3 Shamsher Singh. On 23.11.2002 accused Bahal Singh was arrested. The Investigation Officer on 12.12.2002 examined the statement of the some of the witnesses and got the arms and ammunition tested in the Armoury in Ludhiana and obtained the sanction orders of the District Magistrate for prosecuting the accused under the Arms Act. He completed the investigation and filed the charge sheet against the accused.

The Sessions Court framed the charges against all the seven accused and during the trial the prosecution examined 25 witnesses and marked documents. The accused were questioned under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. and their answers were recorded. The Trial Court found all the accused guilty of the charges and convicted and sentenced them as stated above On the appeals preferred by the accused the High Court acquitted five of them by allowing their appeals and at the same time confirmed conviction and sentence imposed on accused Charanjit Singh and Surjeet Singh by dismissing their appeals. Challenging the same they have preferred two independent appeals and challenging the acquittal, the state has preferred three appeals.

PW1 Balwinder Kaur and PW2 Gurmeet Kaur are said to have witnessed the occurrence. PW1 Balwinder Kaur is the mother of deceased Satnam Singh and PW2 Gurmeet Kaur is his wife. The occurrence had taken just outside their house in the early morning at 5.30 A.M. Both the above witnesses have testified that on 9.11.2002 at about 7/8 P.M. Satnam Singh received a call on his mobile phone from certain persons from village Dhandra asking him to do some earthwork and it was agreed that they should come next morning at 5.30 A.M. It is, their further testimony that on 10.11.2002 at 5 A.M. on hearing the door bell, PW1 Balwinder Kaur opened the door and two persons aged about 30 and 40 years respectively wrapped themselves in chaddars, were standing outside and they were let inside the house. On the direction of Satnam Singh, PW2 Gurmeet Kaur prepared and served tea to them. PW1 and PW2 further testified that the visitors told Satnam Singh that they wanted to show him the plot where filling was to be done and asked Satnam Singh to come along with them on his scooter and Satnam Singh took out his scooter and while he was starting it, accused Charanjit Singh took out firearm from the fold of his garments and fired a shot at Satnam Singh and Surjeet Singh also pulled out a firearm from his garment and fired a shot in the air and Satnam Singh fell down and PW2 Gurmeet Kaur fell upon him and both of them raised alarm and they heard the noise of the starting of a jeep from the other side of the road and the assailants fled away.

It is the further testimony of PW1 Balwinder Kaur that Satnam Singh died on the spot after receiving the injury and she proceeded to lodge a complaint with police and on the way, in Hambran Road, she happened to meet PW23 Sub inspector Gurpreet Singh and she orally gave a statement about the occurrence which was reduced into writing by him. Exh. PA is the statement given by her and Exh. PA/2 is the FIR prepared by him.

In the result all the criminal appeals are dismissed. The bail granted to the appellant/accused Surjit Singh in Criminal Appeal no. 2328 of 2009 shall be cancelled and he is directed to surrender before the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana to serve out the remaining sentence, failing which the learned Additional Sessions Judge is requested to take him into custody and send him to jail to serve his left over sentence.

December 17, 2014.

Date : 17/12/2014 These appeals were called on for pronouncement of JUDGMENT today.

For Appellant(s) Mr. V. Madhukar, AAG Ms. Anvita Cowshish, Adv.

Mr. Mohit Nain, Adv.

Mr. Kuldip Singh,Adv.

Mr. M. P. Jha,Adv.

For Respondent(s) Mr. Yash Pal Dhingra,Adv.

Mr. S. R. Setia,Adv.

Hon'ble Mr. Justice C. Nagappan pronounced the judgment of the Bench comprising Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.Gopala Gowda and His Lordship.

The criminal appeals are dismissed in terms of the signed reportable judgment. The bail granted to the appellant/accused Surjit Singh in Criminal Appeal no. 2328 of 2009 shall be cancelled and he is directed to surrender before the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana to serve out the remaining sentence, failing which the learned Additional Sessions Judge is requested to take him into custody and send him to jail to serve his left over sentence.