- (1.)These two appeals arise out of a common judgment and order passed by the High court of Punjab and Haryana in Criminal Appeal Nos. 73 DB, 91 DB and 104-DB of 1990. The State has filed these appeals as the High court allowed the appeals filed by Pradeep Kumar Chaudhary, Ram Nath and Siriyans Kumar Jain, set aside their conviction and acquitted them of all the charges. Petition for special leave was filed not only against these three respondents but also against Gurvinder Singh and Krishan Kumar Jakhar as their conviction under Section 120-B- has been set aside while maintaining the conviction under other S. including 302 read with 149 Indian Penal Code. This court granted leave to file appeal against Pradeep Kumar, Ram Nath and Siriyans Kumar Jain. So these appeals are now confined to these respondents only.
(2.)The case of the prosecution was that on 13/10/1997 election for the post of President of the Municipal Committee of Hansi was to take place. Krishan Kumar Khandelwal who belonged to Congress (1 was one of the main contestants and majority of the municipal committee members were supporting him. Respondent Pradeepkumar who was a sitting MLA belonged to the opposite party. He did not want Krishan Kumar Khandelwal the deceased, to be the President. To avoid the Municipal Commissioners supporting him to be influenced or pressurised by the other group, the deceased had taken Ganga Dhar, Prem Kumar and some other Municipal Commissioners with him to Delhi, two days before the date of election. He along with these persons returned to Hansi at night on 12-10-87. They all went to the factory of the deceased. After taking dinner at about 11 p. m. the deceased, his brother Satpal, Ganga Dhar, Prem Kumar, Ramesh Narula and Radhey Sham slept in the 'gaddiwala' room of the office building situated in the factory, Ajay Sharma, Rajinder Thakur and some other persons slept in the adjoining room. Sometime between 3.30 and 3.45 a. m. Krishan Kumar Jakhar and Siriyans Kumar Jain armed with guns, Gurvinder Singh armed with a hockey stick and Ram Nath Bhumla came to the factory, and entered the Gaddiwala room where the deceased had slept along with others. Ram Nath took away the gun of Satpal which was lying near his pillow and raised a 'lalkara' that Krishan Kumar Khandelwal be made 'president' implying that he should be killed. Krishan Kumar Jakhar then placed the barrel of his gun on the neck of the deceased and fired a shot. It caused an injury on his neck and he immediately died because of that injury. Ganga Dhar when he tried to go near the deceased was given a hockey blow by Gurvinder Singh on his left thigh. All the assailants then ran away from that place. It was also the prosecution case that Pradeep Kumar and about 30 to 40 persons belonging to his group had also come along with those four assailants and were present near the gate at that time. They had come in different vehicles and some of them were armed with weapons. The dead body of Krishan Kumar was then taken in the Maruti van in which they had come from Delhi to the Civil Hospital at Hansi. Thereafter, Sanjay Kumar and Bajrang Dass went in that van to the house of the deceased to inform his father about the incident. While returning when they were near Barsi Gate some persons belonging to Pradeep Kumar Choudhry stopped the van. Sanjay Kumar and Bajrang Dass got down and ran away from that place. The driver Ratan Singh was beaten and then taken to the bungalow of Pradeep Kumar Choudhry. There he was again given some slaps and then confined till night when he was rescued by the Police. With these allegations, 10 accused including the five named above were tried for the offences punishable under S. 120-B, 148, 302, 452, 392 and 323 all read with 149 Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act in the court of Sessions Judge, Hissar.
(3.)In order to prove its case the prosecution had examined three eye witnesses - Satpal PW-10, Sanjay Sharma PW-13 and Radhey Sham PW-20 and also the driver Rattan Singh PW-22. Other supporting evidence was also led. The trial court accepted the evidence of the three eye-witnesses and the driver Rattan Singh. It also relied upon the discovery of gun belonging to Satpal by Ram Nath. It held that Pradeep Kumar was the main conspirator and the offences were committed ,by others in pursuance of that conspiracy. It also held the Krishna Kumar Jakhar had killed the deceased and Gurvinder Singh had injured Ganga Dhar by a hockey stick blow. On the basis of these findings all those five were convicted accordingly.