MANDEEP SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellants, Mandeep Singh and Narinder Pal Singh have been convicted under Ss. 302 and 411 IPC by the Court of learned Sessions Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000.00 each for offence under Sec. 302 IPC and in default of payment of fine, they were ordered to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months each. They were sentenced to undergo imprisonment for one year each, besides, pay a fine of Rs.1,000.00 each for the offence under Sec. 411 IPC and in default of payment of fine, they were ordered to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month, vide judgment of conviction dtd. 22/8/2009 and order of sentence dtd. 28/8/2009. The appellants have preferred the present appeal before this Court with a prayer to set aside the above-said impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence.

(2.) The law was set in motion with the registration of FIR No.45 dtd. 1/11/2006 under Ss. 302/34 IPC Police Station Fatehgarh Sahib at the instance of Harnam Singh (PW-1), brother-in-law of Gurmukh Singh (since deceased). In the above-said FIR (Ex. PA), the complainant alleged that Gurmukh Singh, his brother-in-law, who was residing in village Bohar and was doing agricultural works, was the owner of property there. On 27/10/2006 at about 09.00 AM, his brother-in-law Gurmukh Singh had gone to fetch meal from his fields on his scooter bearing Registration No. PB-26-B-7143, who did not return back. Consequently, the complainant lodged missing report vide DDR No.14 dtd. 28/10/2006 at Police Station Sadar Khanna. He along with his relatives searched for Gurmukh Singh. Later on, he came to know from Police Station, Sadar Khanna that one scooter of cream colour without registration number had been recovered by the police of Police Station, Fatehgarh Sahib from the possession of Mandeep Singh and Narinder Pal Singh, present appellants. Consequently, he along with relatives went to Police Station, Fatehgarh Sahib and identified the said scooter. He stated that this was the same scooter, which was missing along with Gurmukh Singh since 09.00 AM on 27/10/2006. He further alleged that in the evening, Narinder Singh, who was known to the complainant told him that at about 11.30 AM on 27/10/2006, he had seen two young boys fighting with a Sikh gentleman. Thereafter, the said Narinder Singh came to know his name as Gurmukh Singh son of Joginder Singh, with whom the accused were exchanging hot words and had scuffled. The said two young men were saying to Sikh gentleman that they would teach him a lesson for allegedly meeting Rekha. The said two persons ran away from the spot on their scooter. The complainant raised the suspicion in the FIR that his brother-in-law Gurmukh Singh had been killed after abduction by the accused Mandeep Singh and Narinder Pal Singh. The complainant came to the Police Station with Ranjit Singh and Harminder Singh, Panchayat Member for giving complaint to the police and consequently the FIR was registered at about 07.15 AM on 1/11/2006. After registration of the FIR, the final report under Sec. 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was filed against the present appellants.

(3.) During the course of trial, the prosecution examined Harnam Singh/complainant as PW-1; Jasvir Singh as PW-2; Santokh Singh as PW-3; Gurmukh Singh as PW-4, Swaran Singh as PW-5, Shamsher Singh as PW-6, Narinder Singh as PW-7, Himmat Singh as PW-8, ASI Narinder Singh as PW-9, SI Kamikar Singh as PW-10, Dr. Parminder Singh Bhatti as PW-11, ASI Sukhbir Singh as PW-12, MHC Satpal Singh as PW-13 and Bhushan Kumar as PW-14.