MANJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The two appellants, namely, Manjit Singh and Paramjit Singh, were tried along with three others in ST No. 54 of 2001 before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Kapurthala for the offences punishable under Sections 302 and 307 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

(2.) The facts which are essential to be stated are that on 8.11.1998 about 12:00 noon Amarjot Singh, the complainant, PW-1, along with his younger brother, Jagmohan Singh, the deceased, was going on a tractor towards Bholath for some domestic work. Jagmohan Singh was driving the tractor, whereas Amarjot Singh was sitting on the left mudguard of the tractor. After they reached village Pandori Arayiyan, they were stopped by a Maruti car bearing registration no. PB-10-X 7079, driven by Accused No. 1, Manjit Singh, who parked it on the road in front of the tractor. On seeing the car, Jagmohan Singh, stopped the tractor in the middle of the road. Manjit Singh, armed with a .315 bore rifle, Paramjit Singh, father-in-law of Manjit Singh, armed with .12 bore gun, Jaswinder kaur, sister of Manjit Singh, and two unknown persons alighted from the car. One of the unknown persons was also armed with a .12 bore gun. After alighting from the car, Jaswinder Kaur raised "lalkara" to eliminate both the sons of Rajinderpal Singh, PW-2, father of the deceased, so that they would understand the consequences of contesting the election of Sarpanch against them. Jagmohan Singh tried to turn the tractor towards the left side and at that juncture Manjit Singh fired a gunshot which hit him on the right cheek as a result of which he fell down from the tractor in the fields. Paramjit Singh armed with a .12 bore gun had also fired at the two brothers. Amarjot Singh jumped from the tractor and received an injury on his right elbow. He saved himself by taking shelter behind the back wheel of the tractor. In the meantime, Rajinderpal Singh, PW-2, who was present at his tube-well motor situate nearby and Didar Singh s/o Joginder Singh, who was present in his field near the place of occurrence reached the spot and witnessed the incident. All the accused fled away from the scene of crime along with their respective weapons. Jagmohan Singh and Amarjot Singh were shifted to Civil Hospital, Bholath, in a car and in the hospital Jagmohan Singh was declared dead.

(3.) As the prosecution story further unfurls, the hospital authorities intimated about the death of Jagmohan Singh to the concerned police station whereafter the police party headed by SI, Swaran Singh, PW-5, arrived at the hospital and the SI recorded the Statement of Amarjot Singh on the basis of which a formal FIR was registered. The investigating agency got the post mortem done, prepared the site plan, collected the blood stained earth, the blood stained clothes of the deceased, three empty cartridges of .315 bore rifle and two empty cartridges of .12 bore from the spot and each item was put in separate sealed parcels on the basis of separate memorandum prepared and attested by the witnesses. After taking appropriate steps, accused persons were apprehended and the Maruti car, used in the commission of crime, was seized. A-1, Manjit Singh, while in custody led to recovery of his licenced rifle .315 bore along with the cartridges and the licence in the iron box in the residential house of Jasbir Singh of Village Umarpura, one of his relatives. Similarly Paramjit Singh, A-2, made a disclosure that .12 bore licenced gun used by him had been taken by Sukhpal Singh of Kaki Pind. As per his statement a bag containing the remaining cartridges were kept concealed in the iron box under the clothes in his residential house. On the basis of the said statement, recovery of the iron box, the lock, the cartridges and the licence were recovered. On the basis of disclosure statement of Sukhpal Singh, A-3, who had taken .12 bore gun from Paramjit Singh, A- 2, led to the place of discovery of the weapon hidden underneath the heap of chaff in the Haveli of Manjit Singh, A-1. The seized articles were sent to the FSL at Chandigarh. The investigating agency, after examining the witnesses and completing the other formalities, placed the charge-sheet before the learned Magistrate, who, in turn, committed the matter to the Court of Session.