All the sentences were ordered to run companycurrently.
His statement also shows that Bhan Singh was operated upon and ultimately he was discharged from the hospital on 8.6.1987.
Information was then sent from the hospital to S.H.O. Division No.3, Ludhiana and thereafter PW 14 Sardara Singh, S.I. Police Station, Sangrur came there and recorded the statement of Amar Singh.
Thus, the evidence on record fully establishes the case of the prosecution.
The accused examined three witnesses, namely, DW 1 Sadhu Singh, DW 2 Ram Singh and DW 3 Pritam Singh in their defence.
There was laceration of the durameter and the brain matter.
Surjit Singh A 3 fired a shot which hit Lakha Singh on his face and left side of the neck and right hand and a second shot which hit Amar Singh.
A 2 fired a shot which hit Pritam Singh.
After causing the injuries, the accused ran away.
A 4 fired a shot which hit Bhan Singh and a second shot which hit Gurbachan Singh.
They have given a companysistent version that A 1 and A 2 were armed with SBBL guns and A 3 and A 4 were armed with DBBL guns and that all the accused fired from their respective weapons causing injuries to them and also to Kashmira Singh, Pritam Singh and the deceased Lakha Singh.
When he was at a distance of 5 6 karams from the Baithak of Gurdial Singh, he saw accused A 1 and A 2 armed with SBBL guns and A 3 and A 4 armed with DBBL guns standing in front of the Baithak of Gurdial Singh.
Thereafter the accused ran away.
On internal examination, he found multiple small holes in the terminal ileum and perforation in Caecum.
Lakha Singh succumbed to his injuries at about 8.00 a.m. on 24.5.1987.
The same doctor medically examined PW8 Gurbahcan Singh at 12.45 a.m. in the night of 23/24.5.1987 and found pellet injuries on right hand and on epigastrium region.
Thereafter, a wireless message was sent to Police Station Sangrur.
He was operated upon and was discharged from the hospital after 16 days on 8.6.1987.
All the injured were brought to bus stand Sangrur by Major Singh in a tractor trolley, where they hired two taxies and proceeded to CMC, Ludhiana, where they were admitted in the night.
A 1 entered the Baithak and fired a shot towards them through the iron gauze of the window which hit Kashmira Singh.
Pellets had also entered the chest wall and were found in the lower lobe of right lung.
The three eye witnesses examined by the prosecution, namely, PW4 Amar Singh, PW7 Bhan Singh and PW8 Gurbachan Singh are injured witnesses and, therefore, numberdoubt can be raised about their presence on the spot.
Sardara Singh, SI then proceeded from Sangrur for Ludhiana at about 10.30 a.m. and after reaching the hospital, he moved an application before the EMO, CMC hospital, requesting that it may be informed whether statement of the witnesses can be recorded.
Amar Singh then carried Lakha Singh to his outer house and all the injured persons also reached there.
Coming to the ocular testimony, the prosecution examined three injured witnesses, namely PW4 Amar Singh, PW7 Bhan Singh and PW8 Gurbachan Singh.
During the companyrse of trial the prosecution examined in all 17 witnesses including three eyewitnesses of the occurrence and filed some documentary evidence.
PW7 Bhan Singh and PW8 Gurbachan Singh have given similar version of the incident and have fully companyroborated the testimony of PW4 Amar Singh.
He thus submitted that he had strained relations with A 1 and A 2 and as such he companyld number have joined with them in the companymission of the crime.
PW3 Dr. George T.Abraham examined Pritam Singh and Kashmira Singh from 12.45 a.m. onwards in the night of 23/24.5.1987.
PW1 Dr. William F. Masih, Registrar, Department of Surgery, CMC, Ludhiana, medically examined PW7 Bhan Singh at 11.30 p.m. on 23.5.1987 and found multiple pellet injuries 14 in number on lower abdomen and also multiple pellet injuries on right fore arm and right leg.
The defence of A 3 was that there was some dispute regarding passage between Amar Singh and Sadhu Singh and in the said case his father had appeared as a witness against the former.
In the opinion of the doctor the injuries number4 and 5 of PW7 Bhan Singh were dangerous to life and duration of injuries sustained by both the injured was fresh.
PW18 Dr. A.S. Cherian has proved the injury report of Lakha Singh, who was admitted in the casualty ward at 11.30 p.m. on 23.5.1987 and also the injury report of PW4 Amar Singh.
Lakha Singh succumbed to his injuries at about 8.00 a.m. on 24.5.1987.
A 4 fired a shot which hit Bhan Singh and another shot fired by him hit Gurbachan Singh.
According to doctor the death had occurred due to injuries on vital organs namely brain and lung and they were sufficient in the ordinary companyrse of nature to cause death individually and companylectively.
P.C. denied the case of the prosecution and pleaded that they had been falsely implicated.
One pellet had entered through the angle of mandible and had fractured brain stem entering the skull and it was found embedded in the brain matter.
The record shows that some information was sent from CMC hospital to Police Division No.3 in Ludhiana, which is at a distance of about 3 kilometers after the death of Lakha Singh in the morning of 24.5.1987.
Bhan Singh was discharged from hospital on 8.6.1987 after a surgery had been performed.
The learned Sessions Judge believed the case of the prosecution and companyvicted and sentenced the accused as mentioned earlier.
The appeal preferred by the accused respondents was allowed by the High Court and their companyviction and sentence was set aside.
The injured persons were then taken to bus stand, Sangrur, in the tractor trolley of Major Singh, where they hired two taxies on which they proceeded to Christian Medical College, Ludhiana where they were admitted at about 11.30 p.m. on the same night.
PW5 Dr. D.S. Mohan, Medical Officer, CMC Hospital, Ludhiana admitted all the injured, namely Amar Singh, Bhan Singh, Gurbachan Singh, Pritam Singh and Kashmira Singh in the casualty ward on 23.5.1987.
The case of the prosecution, in brief, is that at about 7.00 p.m. on 23.5.1987 the companyplainant, Amar Singh along with his sons Lakha Singh, Gurbachan Singh and Bhan Singh and two others namely, Kashmira Singh and Pritam Singh, was companying towards his outer house after having unloaded the trolley of wheat straw.
Thus, the medical evidence on record shows that six persons received gun shot injuries in the incident out of whom the injuries to Lakha Singh proved fatal and the injuries sustained by PW7 Bhan Singh were dangerous to life.
He further pleaded that he had companytested the election for the office of Sarpanch against Hari Singh in which A 1 was polling agent of Hari Singh and that A 1 was removed from service on his companyplaint regarding embezzlement.
When they were at a distance of about 5 6 karams from the Baithak of Gurdial Singh, they saw that accused Balwinder Singh A 1 and Avtar Singh A 2 , armed with SBBL guns and accused Surjit Singh A 3 and Mal Singh A 4 armed with DBBL guns were standing there.
The first shot fired by A 3 hit Lakha Singh on his face and the second shot fired by him hit him on his arm and head.
A 1 then entered the Baithak and fired a shot through the iron gauze of the window which hit Kashmira Singh.
Thereafter, A 2 fired a shot which hit Pritam Singh.
Pritam Singh had sustained three gun shot injuries on left thigh while Kashmira Singh had sustained a gun shot wound on his right fore arm.
Lakha Singh had fallen down and was removed to the house.
In his statement in Court PW4 Amar Singh companyroborated the version given by him in the FIR and stated that Jangir Dass Sadh had previously given his land for cultivation to A 1 and A 2 on crop sharing basis but last year he gave his land to him due to which the accused were aggrieved.
The accused in their statement under Section 313 Cr.
In the present case, the incident took place at about 7.00 p.m. on 23.5.1987.
PW13 Dr. Varun Satija, Radiologist companyducted X ray examination of the injuries of the injured Amar Singh, Lakha Singh, Bhan Singh, Gurbachan Singh, Pritam Singh and Kashmira Singh and has proved the X ray examination reports prepared by him.
JUDGMENT P.Mathur, J. This appeal has been preferred by the companyplainant first informant against the judgment and order dated 26.9.1991 of High Court of Punjab Haryana by which the appeal preferred by the accused respondent was allowed and the judgment and order dated 28.7.1989 of Additional Sessions Judge, Sangrur by which they had been companyvicted and sentenced was set aside.
The main grounds which weighed with the High Court in allowing the appeal are that there was delay in lodging the FIR that two injured persons and one Ramesh whose name is mentioned in the FIR were number examined as witnesses by the prosecution and that the investigation of the case was tainted.
He has further stated that at about 7.00 p.m. on 23.5.1987 he was companying to his inner house after unloading the trolley of wheat straw along with his sons Lakha Singh, Gurbachan Singh and Bhan Singh and also Kashmira Singh and Pritam Singh.
PW2 Dr. Virinder Kappal, Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, Ludhiana companyducted post mortem examination on the body of the deceased at 3.15 p.m. on 25.5.1987 and found 16 gun shot wounds on different parts of the body.
On 23rd May the sun sets fairly late and there is good light at 7.00 p.m. and as such the witnesses must have seen and identified the assailants who were all residents of the same village Chatha Sekhwan and were very well known to them.
This was sent to PS, Sangrur through Joga Singh, Constable and a formal FIR was recorded at 9.20 p.m. After investigation, charge sheet was submitted against the four accused respondents and in due companyrse they were companymitted to the Court of Sessions.
The internal examination showed that injury number1 had perforated the frontal bone and a pellet was recovered from right cerebral companytex.
