HARPREET SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction dated 26.11.2010, vide which appellant Harpreet Singh has been held guilty and convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 392 and 460 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (in short 'IPC') and the order on quantum of sentence dated 27.11.2010, vide which the appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and a fine of Rs.5000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months for the offence punishable under Section 392 IPC. He has been further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.5000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months for the offence punishable under Section 460 IPC.

(2.) The brief facts, giving rise to this prosecution, are that on 20.09.2007, PW1 complainant Pal Singh made the statement Ex.PA to PW9 SI Jagbir Singh, alleging therein that he had sold some of his land to one Prem Aggarwal, resident of Panchkula about four years ago, wherein he had installed Kohinoor IBP Filling Station. On 20.09.2007, he came to know that an occurrence had taken place at the petrol pump. At this, he along with PW5 Sewa Singh rushed to the petrol pump and found that salesman PW12 Vikram Singh was locked inside in an injured condition, whereas, dead body of Amar Singh, the security guard, was lying outside the room. Salesman Vikram Singh narrated that three Sikh young boys came on foot at about 02:30 a.m. in the morning i.e. night intervening 19/20.09.2007, armed with two rifles. They opened fire and killed Amar Singh. They fired the second shot at him (Vikram Singh), who got injured. While leaving the spot, the culprits had taken away a cash amount of Rs.26,000/-, 12 bore rifle of security guard Amar Singh and Tata Indicom make mobile phone of Vikram Singh. They locked Vikram Singh in an injured condition inside the room. Vikram Singh was immediately shifted to the hospital. PW9 SI Jagbir Singh made his endorsement on the statement Ex.PA and sent the same to the Police Station. On the basis of which, formal FIR Ex.PA/2 was registered. SI Jagbir Singh inspected the spot and lifted the blood stained earth as well as the simple earth from the spot, which were converted into sealed parcels and were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PF and Ex.PG, respectively. He also lifted from the spot two empty cartridges of 12 bore by converting into the sealed parcel vide memo Ex.PH. The dead body of Amar Singh was lying at the spot. He inspected the dead body and recovered two live cartridges of 12 bore each from the left pocket of deceased and two cartridges from the cloth bag tied with the cycle of the deceased. All the four live cartridges were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PJ, after converting into sealed parcels. He also prepared the rough site plan of the place of occurrence Ex.PK and the inquest report Ex.PE. The dead body of Amar Singh was sent to the A.P. Jain Hospital, Rajpura for the post-mortem examination. The services of the photographer were also requisitioned and the spot was photographed. After the post-mortem examination, HC Gurdeep produced the parcel containing the belongings of the deceased and other sealed parcels containing the pellets removed during post-mortem examination by the doctor, which were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PL and Ex.PM, respectively. One Nagar Singh, the complainant of case FIR No.113 dated 30.07.2007, Police Station Lalru produced one empty cartridges of 12 bore before the Investigating Officer, which was also taken into possession vide memo Ex.PN. The case property was deposited with the Moharir Head Constable.

(3.) On 14.01.2008, injured Vikram Singh went to the Rajpura Courts after reading the news item in Punjabi Tribune dated 12.01.2008 where four persons were produced by the Lalru police. He identified two of them as the persons, who had committed this occurrence at their petrol pump, causing death of Amar Singh. The names of those persons were disclosed to be appellant Harpreet Singh and his co-accused Baljit Singh. They were arrested in this case with the permission of the Court. During the course of investigation, they confessed the commission of the offence. These accused were arrested by PW14 SI Sukhwinder Singh, the then SHO, Police Station Lalru on 10.01.2008. One 12 bore rifle and six live cartridges of the same bore were recovered from the possession of the present appellant. One 12 bore rifle along with six live cartridges were also recovered from the possession of accused Baljit Singh for which, the separate cases under Section 25 of the Arms Act were registered against them. During the interrogation, accused Baljit Singh disclosed about the present occurrence, vide disclosure statement Ex.PW14/B. Appellant Harpreet Singh had also suffered the disclosure statement and got recovered Rs.27,400/- and the 12 bore rifle snatched from deceased Amar Singh and four live cartridges from his field at Gulabgarh. These articles were kept in sealed parcels and were taken into possession vide memo Ex.PW14/D. After completion of the investigation, the present report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. was presented in the Court.