Point of law : In a case of conspiracy, every accused may not be present at the spot however, if there is prima facie material to show meeting of mind and that pursuant thereto, an offence is committed, the petitioner would also be liable for the offence punishable.

JUDGMENT :

1. By this petition, petitioner seeks regular bail in case FIR No.247/2020 under Sections 302/392/397/120B/34 IPC and Sections 25/27 Arms Act registered at PS Mandawali, Delhi.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner was arrested in the above-noted FIR on 14th June, 2020 and from that day he is in custody. There is no legally admissible evidence against the petitioner with the prosecution in the charge-sheet filed against the petitioner. No recovery has been made from the petitioner except for his own mobile phone which has no connection with the commission of the alleged offence. In the entire charge-sheet no motive has been attributed to the petitioner and the petitioner is in no manner connected with the commission of the alleged offence. The allegation that the petitioner did recce of the area where subsequently the other accused committed the alleged offence is based on the disclosure statement leading to no recovery and hence is not admissible in evidence. Despite the fact in the entire area there may be CCTV cameras which could capture the petitioner doing the recce on the date of incident however, no CCTV footages have been relied upon. Location of the petitioner’s mobile phone around the area of alleged offence is inconsequential for the reason the petitioner is a resident of Joshi Colony which is around three kilometres away from the place of incident and his location would be at that place. There is no material with the prosecution to even prima facie show that the petitioner was a part of the conspiracy. It is further stated that the prosecution wrongly relies upon the two involvements of the petitioner for the reason in one of the cases the petitioner has already been acquitted. Petitioner is the sole bread earner of the family consisting of his wife and one girl child aged two years old and undertakes to abide by any condition imposed by this Court while granting bail.

3. Learned APP for the State on the other hand contends that the petitioner is a co-conspirator in the above-mentioned FIR which resulted in the cold blooded murder of one Rahul Singh with gunshots fired on him. The deceased had previous enmity with the co-conspirator Kartar Bhati and the mobile phone of the petitioner shows his connection with the other accused, who committed the offence of murder of Rahul Singh and was thus a part of the conspiracy. Since material witnesses are yet to be examined, the petitioner be not granted bail. Further petitioner has two other involvements.

4. The above-noted FIR was registered pursuant to a PCR call received at PS Mandawali on 3rd June, 2020 and recorded vide DD No.12A. On reaching the spot, the Investigating Officer found one Rahul Singh lying in a pool of blood with bullet injuries and empty cartridges in the Aditi Apartment.

5. Statement of Kartar Singh brother of Rahul Singh was recorded on 3rd June, 2020 itself who stated that on receiving the information he immediately reached the place where his brother was lying on the floor with blood oozing out. In the meantime, a police vehicle came and he took his brother to Max Hospital in the PCR van. According to Kartar Singh, his brother Rahul Nagar was a social worker and is brother had number of times stopped Kartar Bhati who used to earlier stay near their place and was now staying in Noida, Uttar Pradesh due which there was an altercation between Rahul Nagar and Kartar Bhati in November, 2019 whereafter Kartar Bhati with Sumit had attempted to murder his brother but his brother was fortunately saved and in this regard a FIR was registered. He further stated that 15-20 days prior to the incident, his brother Rahul Singh @ Bhuru told him that Kartar Bhati’s nephew Sachin had come to his house along with one more boy asking him to withdraw his case otherwise it would not be good. He expressed his apprehension on Kartar Bhati, his nephew Sachin Bhati and their associates for the murder of his brother while he was on morning wal