- (1.) The facts given by accused Bachittar Singh (the first informant) are as under : Accused Bachittar Singh son of Shangara Singh, a resident of village Dholewala, was one of three brothers, the others being Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh, both elder to him. Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh were residing in the family Haveli whereas Bahcittar Singh was residing in a separate house, though in the same village. At about 3.00 A.M. on the night intervening 18/19.4.1994, Bachittar Singh returned home after irrigating his field when his wife, Rajbir Kaur, told him that she had heard the sound of gun fire in the village. Bachittar Singh, however, ignored the information. At about 6.00 A.M., Pipal Singh, Bachittar Singh's cousin, came to Bachittar Singh and told him that at about 1.00 A.M., two unknown persons had murdered Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh and their families. On receiving this information, Bachittar Singh along with Pipal Singh went to the Haveli and found the dead bodies of Sukhwant Singh, his wife Piar Kaur, and their children Gurjit Kaur (12 years), Gogi (9 years), and Bhupinder Singh, his wife Joginder Kaur and their children Harjinder Singh (6 years) and Devinder (13 years) lying there. Leaving Pipal Singh at the place to guard the dead bodies, Bachittar Singh rushed to Police Station, Dharamkot, five miles away, and lodged the F.I.R. with P.W-10 SI Surinder Pal giving the above facts. SI Surinder Pal then reached the place of incident and as he was making inquiries, P.W-3 Joginder Singh son of Ajaib Singh, a resident of village Mastewala, reached the place and made his statement, which was recorded under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in which he stated that his sister, Piar Kaur, (deceased) had been married to Sukhwant Singh (deceased) about 15 years earlier but as Sukhwant Singh was a drug addict and physically incapacitated on that account, he had given his land on lease to Bachittar Singh accused but as the latter was not paying the lease money regularly, Sukhwant Singh and his family were in dire financial straits and had decided to give the land on lease to Bhupinder Singh (deceased) and when this proposal had come to Bachittar Singh's notice, he had threatened to kill his brothers and their families. He further stated that about a week earlier, Piar Kaur had come to village Mastewala and told him that the land was not to be given to Bachittar Singh any further on which Joginder Singh along with his father, Ajaib Singh, and several other persons had gone to village Dholewala and had advised Bachittar Singh to vacate the land but Malook Singh accused had, on the contrary, advised Sukhwant Singh to leave the land with Bachittar Singh, which advie was, however, not acceptable to them and that he alongwith Ajaib Singh had thereafter returned to village Mastewala. He further stated that after consulting other relatives, he had returned to village Dholewala on April 18, 1994 and had stayed on with his sister, Piar Kaur, and had slept in a Kotha on the first floor and at about 1.00 A.M. on April 19, 1994, he had heard the sound of gun-shots from the side of the Deory nad on looking down had observed that Bachittar Singh, empty handed, Malook Singh, Sarpanch, armed with a. 12 bore DBBL gun and Amarjit Singh armed with a rifle, had entered the Deory and whereas Amarjit Singh accused had gone towards the room occupied by Bhupinder Singh, Malook Singh had gone towards Sukhwant Singh's room and fired several gun shots into them and seeing this he (Joginder Singh), who was unarmed had jumped from the roof and left post-haste for village Mastewala and after disclosing the incident to his family members, he along with several others had returned to village Dholewala and met the police party. During the course of the investigation, P.W-22 ASI Surinder Mohan also lifted one piece of cloth, a Thatha, a turban, several empty cartridges etc. from the place of incident. The accuse were arrested on April, 24, 1994 and on their disclosure statements, several items relevant to the prosecution story were recovered. On the completion of the investigation, the accused were charged offences punishable under Sections 460/302/34 of the Indian Penal Code and Bachittar Singh under Section 30 of the Arms Act as well and as they pleaded not guilty, were brought to trial.
(2.) To prove its case, the prosecution examined inter alia, P.W-1 Dr. Charanjit Singh, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead bodies of Gutjit Kaur, daugther of Sukhwant Singh deceased, and had found four gun shot injuries thereon (two of entry and two of exit), Gogi, Sukhwant Singh's second daugther with two gun shot injuries thereon, Piar Kaur, his wife with three gun shot injuries (two of entry and one of exit) and Sukhwant Singh himself with two gun shot injuries (one of entry and the other of exit); P.W-2 Dr. Rachpal Singh, who had conducted the post-mortem examination on the dead bodies of Bhupinder Singh and observed two gun shot injuries (one of entry and the other of exit), his son, Harjinder Singh, with two gun shot injuries (one of entry and the other of exit); another son, Devinder Singh, with two gun shot injuries (one of entry and the other of exit), and his wife, Joginder Kaur, with three gun shot injuries (two of entry and the other of exit); P.W.4 Dr. Gian Singh, who had at 8.15 A.M. on April 25, 1994, medico- legally examined Malook Singh accused and had found one simple abrasion on his person; P.W-3 Joginder Singh, the solitary eye-witness; P.W-5 Piara Singh, a relative of Joginder Singh (P.W-3), who was a witness to the recovery of a DBBL gun and three cartridge cases at the instance of Bachittar Singh, one shoe at the instance of Amarjit Singh and a pair of shoes, and some clothes at the instance of Malook Singh; P.W-8 Ajaib Singh, Joginder Sing's father, who stated to the motive for the offence, which had led to the murders; P.W-10 SI Surinder Pal, the main Investigating Officer, who had recorded the F.I.R. and also the statement of Joginder Singh (P.W-3) under Section 161 Cr.P.C., bringing out a different version vis-a-vis the one given by Bachittar Singh in the F.I.R. and had also recovered two cartridge cases from near the dead body of Piar Kaur, a turban (Exh. P-11) from outside the room of Sukhwant Singh, a piece of green cloth (Exh. P-12) entangled in the nail outside Sukhwant Singh's room, a Thatha (Exh. P-15) from inside the room, some hair entangled in the wooden plank of the door, one empty of a 12 bore DBBL gun from near the said room and had also lifted blood stained earth from the place of incident; P.W-11 A.S. Katari, JMIC, Batala, under whose orders the sample of the hair of Malook Singh had been taken; P.W-16 Surinder Singh, SP, who had also associated with the investigation of the case; P.W-20 Jagtar Singh son of Ajaib Singh, who proved the will (Exh. P48) allegedly executed by Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh deceased jointly on February 10, 1993 in which they had recited that as they feared danger to their lives at the hands of Bachittar Singh, they were leaving their properties to the State Government; P.W-21 Tarsem Singh, Arms Clerk, who proved the licence (Exh. P-37) issued in favour of Bachittar Singh accused for the DBBL gun; P.W-22 ASI Surinder Mohan, who had picked up four spent cases of 303 bore rifle, lying near the dead body of Bhupinder Singh and a shoe (Exh. P-1) from near the dead bodies of Bhupinder Singh and his wife, Joginder Kaur, and further stated that Bachittar Singh had produced a 303 rifle along with 48 cartridges before him on April 19, 1994, which had been taken into possession; P.W-23 Inspector Balkar Singh, who brought the record to show that the 303 rifle had been issued to Bachittar Singh for his security as he was apprehending danger at the hands of terrorists; and P.W-24 Jagjit Singh, Sub Station Operator of the Electricity Board, Dharamkot, who stated that the electricity supply in Dholewala had remained continuous from April 18, 1994 to April 20, 1994 upto 5.00 P.M. The reports of the Forensic Science Laboratory (Exhs. PNNN, POOO, PQQQ and PRRR) as also the report of the Chemical Examiner (Exh. PSSS) were tendered into evidence.
(3.) The prosecution case was then put to the accused and their statements recorded under Section 313 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Accused Bachittar Singh stated that he was innocent and had been residing separately, some distance away, from his deceased brothers. He further stated that at about 6.00 A.M. on April 19, 1994, Pipal Singh, who was also living in a part of the Haveli occupied by Sukhwant Singh and Bhupinder Singh, had come to him and had told him that two unknown persons had killed them and their families, on which he had gone to Police Station and lodged the F.I.R. Accused Malook Singh and Amarjit Singh denied the allegations and pleaded innocence.;