Manmeet Singh Alias Goldie vs State Of Punjab

4. Stated briefly, the prosecution case is traceable to the First Information Report (for short the "FIR") lodged with Morinda Police Station on 28.05.2004. The FIR disclosed that the informant, Gursatinder Singh had lodged it on the date of the incident i.e. 28.0.5.2004 contending that he along with Mohinder Singh, Cashier, Surinder Pal, Accountant City Sub- Division, PSEB and Balbir Singh, Cashier at about 11.00 a.m. had travelled in a Matador vehicle No.PB-11-6119 driven by Gurcharan Singh to collect the salary of the employees from the State Bank of Patiala, Kharar Branch and that in due course an amount of Rs. 7,78,156/- was collected from the bank and put in a green colour bag. According to the informant, an amount of Rs. 7,18,715/- towards salary of the City Sub-Division was put in another bag and both the bags were taken in the Matador vehicle. At 2.30 p.m. when the party reached the Suburban Sub Division Office, Morinda, Mohinder Singh, Cashier alighted from the vehicle with the bag containing Rs.7,78,156/-. It was then, according to the informant, that a gentleman aged about 25/30 years with Mulla looks and wearing a cap confronted him (Mohinder Singh) with a pistol like article in his hand and tried to snatch the bag of money from him. It was stated further that as Mohinder Singh resisted, the intruder fired from his pistol for which he (Mohinder Singh) fell down. The shot had injured him on the left side of his chest. The assailant then carried the bag of money on a Bajaj Chetak Scooter No.5648 along with another young man of the same age who was standing nearby. The informant mentioned that both the persons then in the scooter drove towards Kurali. That he raised an alarm on which people gathered and thereafter Mohinder Singh was taken to the Government Hospital, Morinda where he was declared dead was also stated. In the FIR the informant did not name any of the offenders but claimed that he would be able to identify the two persons.

5. On the basis of the recorded statement of Gursatinder Singh son of Jit Singh, Accountant, Sub Division, Morinda, the information was registered as FIR No.69 dated 28.05.2004 under section 302/397/34 IPC and 24/25/29 of Arms Act and on the completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was laid under Section 173 of the Cr.P.C.. On the completion of the committal proceedings, five accused persons including the appellant were sent up for trial. At the trial before the learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Rupnagar in the aforementioned sessions case, charges were framed as hereunder:

6. All the persons who had been sent up for trial, namely the appellant Manmeet Singh alias Goldie, Satnam Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Malkiat Singh and Balwinder Singh denied the charges. The prosecution examined 27 witnesses including the Doctor who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead body of Mohinder Singh and the investigating officer. It projected PW1 Gursatinder Singh the informant, PW3 Gurcharan Singh the driver of the vehicle and PW4 Balbir Singh, Cashier, to be the eye witnesses of the incident. The incriminating evidence brought on record by the prosecution was then explained to the accused persons who in their statements under Section 313, Cr.P.C. stood by their denial of the charges and the accusations made against them. They thereafter examined 13 witnesses in defence principally trying to explain the varying sums of money seized from them by the police in course of the investigation. The learned trial court on the evidence on record and after hearing the learned counsel for the parties convicted and sentenced the appellant as above but acquitted the four co-accused persons. The appeal filed by the appellant from the decision however stood dismissed, as herein before mentioned. The appellant in his relentless pursuit for redress is thus before this Court.

10 B. PW3 Gurcharan Singh stated that he had driven the vehicle to the State Bank of Patiala, Kharar Branch to collect the salary amount therefrom about 11.00 a.m. on the date of incident. According to him, they started from the bank with the cash put in a bag. He stated that Mohinder Singh was sitting on the back seat of the vehicle and that one bag was with Gursatinder and the other with Balbir Singh. According to the witness, he stopped the van at the office of the Suburban Sub division of main Morinda Kharar road. Mohinder Singh alighted from the vehicle and Gursatinder gave him one bag containing cash and at that point of time two persons made an attempt to snatch the bag from Mohinder Singh and as the latter resisted there was a scuffle and he fell down. The witness stated that the two persons then fired from a revolver which struck Mohinder Singh on the left side of the chest. Though this witness identified the appellant in Court, he could not identify the others. He stated further that he did not know as to what had happened with the bag which Mohinder Singh had been carrying.

15. PW21 S.I. Balwant Singh, the investigating officer, mentioned about the report made to him by Sanjiv Joshi on 30.07.2004 that he had overheard one person talking on telephone at the Bus Stand Morinda that whenever he would give a missed call, the other side should understand that the car carrying cash of the Electricity Board had started from Kharar.

20. It is thus patent that the accused persons including the appellant, in terms of the charge so framed could be convicted, if proved, for the offences under section 120B, 302, 396 IPC.

27 A. The above pronouncements do acknowledge the extension of the concept of collective culpability enshrined in section 149, IPC in section 396, IPC contemplating murder with dacoity. An assembly of five or more persons participating in the offence is thus the sine qua non for an offence under section 396, IPC permitting conviction of any one or more members thereof even if others are acquitted for lack of their identity. In absence of such an assembly of five or more persons imbued with the common object of committing dacoity with murder, any member thereof cannot be convicted for the said offence irrespective of his/her individual act of murder unless independently and categorically charged for that offence.

29. Be that as it may, in our considered view, the conviction and sentence of the appellant being repugnant to letter and spirit of section 391 and 396 of the IPC, the same is liable to be interfered with. We order accordingly.

30. The appeal is thus allowed and the impugned judgments and orders are hereby set aside. The appellant is acquitted of the charges and is hereby ordered to be set at liberty forthwith. The bail bonds stand discharged. The lower courts records be transmitted immediately for necessary follow up steps.