Pardeep Nandrajog, J.

1. March 08, 2008 was a day of joy in the life of Ajay Maan. It was the day of his engagement. Ruby daughter of Nawal Singh Shokeen was the maiden. The venue for the function was Carnival Farm House, Alipur. Invitation cards were distributed to the guests. The celebrations started around 5.30 P.M. and continued late night. Ajay’s joy turned into sorrow when he received a gunshot injury on his chest at the parking of the venue at around 11.30 P.M. He died within minutes as a result of the injury suffered by him. The post mortem report Ex.PW-26/A authored by Dr. Munish Wadhawan records that there was a :-

‘Oval lacerated penetrating wound 10 x 7 cm with blackening, tattooing around the wound in left side of chest 13 cm below left clevical and 5 cm from mid line of chest. Margins were irregular and ragged.’

2. On exploration it was found that the 4th to the 7th ribs of the left side were shattered completely underneath the wound with bruising, cherry red discolouration, extravasation of blood and blood clots in surrounding tissues were to be seen. Lower lobe of left lung and apex of the heart were completely lacerated and ruptured. Multiple pellets were recovered from the heart and the left lung. 500 ml of fluid and clotted blood were present in the chest cavity. It was opined by Dr. Munish that the injuries were ante mortem and were caused by a shot gun firearm and the shot was fired from close range. Time since death was approximately 12 hours. The post mortem commenced, as recorded in the post mortem report, at 11.45 A.M. on March 09, 2008, meaning thereby the death took place between 11.00 P.M. and 12.00 midnight on March 08, 2008. As explained during cross examination by Dr. Munish, by close range he meant that the shot was fired from a distance of 2 mtrs. to 3 mtrs. as contrasted to a shot fired from contact range, which meant that the barrel of the weapon touch the body; in any case, the distance of the barrel could not be more than 6 inches for a shot to be described as fired from a contact range.

3. Ajay being injured with a firearm is recorded in two contemporaneous documents. The first in point of time is the PCR Log Book Form Ex.PW-7/A, authored by HC Sanjay PW-7, the operator in the Police Control Room, who recorded on the form that at 00:35 hrs. on March 09, 2008 through mobile No. 9213729883 information was received that at the Carnival Farm, Alipur a man had been injured with a firearm. The second in point of time is the MLC Ex.PW-2/A, authored by Dr. Suryakant PW-2 the Chief Medical Officer of Saroj Hospital & Heart Institute, Rohini which records that Ajay was brought to the hospital at 00:50 hrs. on March 09, 2008 and his brother Antish Kumar (PW-1) gave the history that the patient had received a gunshot injury on his chest. The MLC records that the patient was declared dead when brought to the hospital. The reflection of Ex.PW-7/A is to be found in DD No. 3B Mark ‘X’ recorded at 00:45 hrs. on March 09, 2008 at P.S. Alipur that from the Police Control Room information was received that a man had received a gunshot wound at Carnival Farm, Alipur. This triggered the involvement of the police in the detection of the incident requiring investigation as to how Ajay was injured, and if homicidal, who caused the injury.

4. Being relevant to discuss hereinafter whether Antish Kumar PW-1, Satish Maan PW-4, Rahul Maan PW-19 and Rajesh Maan PW-24 were witnesses to the incident or whether, they being admittedly present at the Carnival Farm, did not witness the incident but reached the place where Ajay Maan was injured, probably hearing two shots being fired at the parking of Carnival Farm, we note that the proforma of the Police Control Room Form-1 has four distinct parts. The first part requires information to be filled up by the person in the Police Control Room that an informant has given information of some incident (brief particulars whereof as to told by the informant to be noted) which r