LAKHVIR SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This order will dispose of two cases i.e. CRA-S-372-SB-2005 and CRA-S-717-SB-2005, as both the appeals have arisen out of the same judgment. For the sake of convenience, the facts are being extracted from CRA-S-372-SB-2005.

(2.) The prosecution case in brief is that on 14th November, 2003 at about 07:30 P.M. the accused-appellants along with co-accused Gurpreet Singh approached the complainant-Amrik Singh (PW-1) to hire his taxi for going village Barri near Ropar from the Taxi Stand of G.T. Road, Sirhind. On being asked by the complainant, the accused disclosed their names as 'Jagdeep Singh ', 'Lakhvir Singh ' and 'Gurpreet Singh '. While the complainant was driving the three accused-appellants in his taxi to their destination, at about 09:00 P.M., the accused-appellants asked him to stop the taxi as they wanted to answer the call of nature. The complainant stopped his taxi. However, soon thereafter, accused-Gurpreet Singh caught hold of the complainant from his arms while accused-appellant/Jagdeep Singh took out a Dagger (Chhura) from his dub and inflicted 6 to 7 injuries on the forehead of the complainant. The complainant tried to raise an alarm, but accused-Gurpreet Singh shut his mouth with his hand. Meanwhile, accused-appellant/Lakhvir Singh also took out a Knife from his dub and inflicted 2 to 3 injuries on the left side of the abdomen as well as one injury on the neck of the complainant. The complainant after being attacked and inflicted the aforementioned injuries was thrown out from the taxi by the accused-appellants and who then fled away in the taxi itself. The complainant was found on the road side by the police officials, from where he was removed to the Civil Hospital, Ropar and in turn referred to PGI, Chandigarh, as his condition was found to be serious. On the statement Ex. PA of injured-complainant/Amrik Singh, FIR Ex. PM was registered under Sections 382, 307/34 IPC.

(3.) After registration of the case, the accused were arrested and recoveries of the weapons of offence were effected from them. The recovered articles i.e. Knife and Dagger were seized vide recovery memo Ex. PD and Ex. PE, respectively, along with the Esteem car (taxi) bearing registration No. HR-09-7131 vide recovery memo Ex. PJ/1. On completion of investigation, challan was presented and charges were framed under Section 397 IPC, against accused-appellants, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.