The main legal point established in the judgment is the entitlement to regular bail based on the nature of the accusation, evidence against the accused, their custody period, and parity with other co-accused who had been granted bail.

JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar Tyagi, J. - (The case has been taken up for hearing through video conferencing.) 1. Petitioner-Ravi Kumar has filed CRM-M-23537-2020 and petitioner-Sahab Ram has filed CRM-M-23805-2020 under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, "the Cr.P.C.") for grant of regular bail in case FIR No.126 dated 01.06.2018 registered under Sections 285 and 365 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, "the IPC") and Section 25 of the Arms Act, 1959 at Police Station Bhattu Kalan, District Fatehabad to which Sections 148, 149, 364, 452, 302, 201 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 27 and 30 of the Arms Act, 1959 were added and from which Section 365 of the IPC was deleted later on.

2. The above said FIR was registered on statement of complainant Rai Singh who alleged that his nephew Dharambir, who used to reside with him, brought a girl named Sunita with him about 2/3 days back and introduced her as his wife. On 01.06.2018 at about 02:00 P.M. 15/16 persons came in two vehicles and one of them fired gun shot in the air and they abducted his nephew Dharambir and his wife and took them away in their vehicles. He could identify them if brought before him. Sunita was recovered on 02.06.2018 and her statement was got recorded under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C. Dead body of Dharambir was recovered from Sidhmukh Canal in the area of Bhadra, Rajasthan on 03.06.2018. Supplementary statement of complainant Rai Singh was recorded on 04.06.2018. On investigation 15 persons were stated to be involved in the occurrence. Six of them namely Dharampal @ Jagar, Dalbir, Sahab Ram (the petitioner in CRM-M-23805-2020), Sarjit, Siri Ram and Ravi (the petitioner in CRM-M-23537-2020) were arrested and challan was presented against them on 01.09.2018.

3. The first two petitions filed by petitioner-Ravi Kumar before this Court for grant of regular bail were dismissed as withdrawn vide orders dated 22.04.2019 and 27.02.2020 respectively and the first two petitions filed by petitioner-Sahab Ram before this Court for grant of regular bail were dismissed as withdrawn vide orders dated 07.02.2019 and 27.02.2020 respectively.

4. The present (third) petition filed by petitioner-Ravi Kumar has been opposed by the respondent-State in terms of reply filed by way of affidavit of Satender Kumar, HPS, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Traffic, Fatehabad. No reply has been filed to (third) petition filed by petitioner-Sahab Ram.

5. I have heard arguments addressed by learned Counsel for the petitioners, learned State Counsels for the States of Punjab and Haryana and learned Additional Public Prosecutor for U.T. Chandigarh have gone through the relevant record.

6. Mr. Aditya Sanghi, learned Counsel for petitioner-Ravi Kumar has submitted that the petitioner has been falsely implicated in the case. As per disclosure statements allegedly made by co-accused, Dalbir, Sunder, Balwant, Neki Ram, Sher Singh and Sahab Ram are alleged to have murdered Dharambir. Co-accused Dalbir and Sunder have been granted bail. Even as per the prosecution version the petitioner, who was present at the time of alleged abduction of Sunita and Dharambir, left before and was not present at the time of murder of Dharambir. The earlier petitions filed by the petitioner were merely dismissed as withdrawn and the present petition is maintainable in view of the change of circumstances. Substantial number of prosecution witnesses are yet to be examined in the case. The trial is likely to take long time due to number of prosecution witnesses to be examined and restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of infection of Covid-19. Coaccused Shri Ram, Sarjeet @ Rawan, Bhanwar Singh, Vinod, Vikram, Ved Parkash, Biru Ram, Dalbeer, Sundar Lal and Dharampal @ Jagar have been granted regular bail. In view of parity with them the petitioner may also be granted regular bail and interim regular bail granted to him may be confirmed.

7. Mr. Vikas Bishnoi, learned Counsel for petitioner-Sahab Ram has