JUDGMENT :

UDAY UMESH LALIT, J.

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1537 OF 2018

1. This appeal by special leave has been filed by accused Taqdir (original accused no. 1) challenging the judgment and order dated 30.07.2018 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. CRA-D-177-DB of 2016 (O/M).

2. The case of the prosecution in brief is as under:

(a) The appellant Taqdir had contested panchayat elections against one Rakesh alias Kala and the appellant having lost the elections, bore a grudge against said Rakesh.

(b) On 21.06.2010, said Rakesh was admitted as Indoor Patient in Delhi Hospital, Bahadurgarh in connection with certain medical issues. On that day, at about 11 a.m. onwards, an incident of shootout occurred in the room where said Rakesh was admitted.

(c) According to the First Information Report lodged by PW-3 Dharambir, father of said Rakesh, PW-3 had gone to the hospital alongwith his nephew Surender son of Tarif Singh. As they were to enter the hospital premises, he saw some of the accused persons standing outside the hospital on their motorcycles with the ignition on. Soon thereafter, he found other set of the accused coming out of the hospital with fir