Judgment

KOSHAL, J.:- For the abduction and murder of Inder Singh, a resident of village Lature in Police Station Mulepur of Dist. Patiala and for doing away with his dead-body, three other residents of the same village, namely, Gurbachan Singh aged 55, his son Baldev Singh aged 30, and the latters brother Hardev Singh aged 27, were tried by Shri Jagwant Singh, Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala, for offence under S. 364, S. 302 read with S. 34, S. 120-B read with Section 302 and S. 201, of the Indian Penal Code. Two of the accused, namely, Hardev Singh and his father were acquitted of all the charges. Their co-accused Baldev Singh was, however, found guilty of murdering Inder Singh in furtherance of the common intention of himself and other and was convicted of an offence under S. 302 read with S. 34 of the I. P. C. The charges under S. 364 and S. 201 of the Code were also found proved against him and he was convicted thereof. The sentences awarded to him were life imprisonment on the first count, rigorous imprisonment for five years on the second and rigorous imprisonment for three years on the third, all of them having been directed to run concurrently. His appeal was rejected by a judgment dated the 8th of October 1971 of a Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and it is that judgment which is challenged before us in the present appeal.

2. The prosecution case may be stated thus :- About a decade prior to the 21st July 1969 when Inder Singh is said to have been murdered, one Harbans Kaur started living with him along with her two sons Kashmir Singh and Chanan Singh and a daughter named Gurmit Kaur (P. W. 6), the father of these three children being a deserted husband. Soon afterwards she contracted a Karewa marriage with the deceased who in turn made over possession of his land measuring about 125 bighas to her two sons who started cultivating the same.

Sometime in the year 1967 the deceased fell out with Harbans Kaur and her sons and shifted his residence to the house of Gurbachan Singh accused who was his distant collateral. On the 12th December 1967 the deceased executed a will bequeathing his property to Gurbachan Singh accused and had the same registered. He also filed a suit for possession of his land against Kashmir Singh and Chanana Singh which was decreed on the 27th February 1969 by the trial court and on the 23rd March 1969 by the appellate court. He obtained actual possession of the land on the 6th July 1969 (vide Ex. D-5).

A couple of days later Gurbachan Singh accused arranged a liquor party to celebrate the happy occasion of recovery of possession of the land by the deceased from his step-sons. The party was attended by the three accused as well as by Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) who was on visiting terms with them. On that day the three accused and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) hurled abuses at Gurmit Kaur (P. W. 6) who raised an alarm. The deceased, who happened to come on the sense, did not relish the behaviour of the accused and their friend and declared that he would cancel the will abovmentioned. On the same day he shifted his residence back of his own house.

Three or four days later Baldev Singh accused went to the village Chaurwala where Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) resided and took him to his fathers well where the other two accused were already present. A conspiracy was hatched to kill Inder Singh so that he would not be able to revoke the will. Gurbachan Singh accused declared that he would bear all the necessary expenses.

After the conspiracy was hatched, i. e., on the 21st July 1969, another case filed by the deceased against his step-sons, in which he had claimed Rs. 4.000 as mesne profits of the land above-mentioned, was to be taken up for hearing by a court at Bassi. The deceased came out of his house to go to Bassi and found that the three accused and Gurmel Singh (P. W. 8) were present nearby with a tractor and a trolley which belonged to the accused and which they used to park in their cattle-shed