BALJEET SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This bail application has been filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for grant of regular bail in connection with FIR No.189 of 2019, registered with Police Station Gadarpur, District Udham Singh Nagar for the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of IPC and Section 3(2) (V) of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

(2.) Facts, to the limited extent necessary, are that the informant Nitesh Kumar lodged an FIR against the present applicant-accused along with three named co-accused persons and some unknown persons. According to the FIR, the informant is a member of a Scheduled Caste. His father purchased a land measuring 1.5 acres from Janardan Dubey, Tarkeshwar Dubey and Harikrishna Dubey. The land was in the possession of the informant till the year, 2018. The said land is lying vacant since the year, 2019. Manoj Dubey, a co-accused was having enmity with the informant due to the said land. Manoj Dubey used to threaten to kill him and his two brothers. He always abused them using caste indicating words. Mayank, aged about 23 years (deceased), the younger brother of the informant, was posted as a Constable in Police Station Madhav Tanda, District Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. He had come home on leave. On 13.08.2019, the informant and his brother Mayank had come to Gadarpur for their personal work. Both of them reached Khalsa Dhaba to settle their land dispute. Mayank went inside the dhaba. The informant was standing outside. He heard gunshots. When he went inside the dhaba, he saw that his brother Mayank was lying on the ground drenched in blood and three persons from inside the dhaba had run away. Manoj Dubey, a co-accused, along with his associates Uday Veer Singh @ Sanni Virk, Gaurav @ Nikka, Baljeet Singh @ Jot (present applicant-accused) with some other associates, shot and killed his brother Mayank at around 8:30 hrs. due to the land dispute. The whole incident was seen by Sandeep Singh @ Bunty Randhawa, Sukhdev Singh, Harman Deep Singh and Pradeep Singh. The FIR was registered at 8:30 hrs. on 13.08.2019. On 16.08.2019, the present applicant was arrested and at the time of his arrest, one revolver was recovered from his possession. During the investigation, the name of a co-accused Virender Singh @ Sunny came into light and he was arrested on 21.08.2019. At the time of the arrest of Virender Singh @ Sunny, a pistol of 32 bore, weapon used in commission of the crime, was recovered. The post-mortem examination was conducted. The statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 and Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(3.) Heard Mr. R. P. Singh, the learned counsel and Ms. Sonia Chawla, the learned counsel for the applicant, Mr. T. C. Aggarwal, the learned Deputy Advocate General for the State and Ms. Charanjeet Kaur, the learned counsel for the informant through video conferencing.