Grant of bail based on lack of corroboration of prosecution version and absence of recovery of weapons.

JUDGMENT

Arvind Singh Sangwan, J. (Oral). - Prayer in this petition is for grant of regular bail to the petitioner under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (in short 'Cr.P.C.') in FIR No.120 dated 01.11.2020, for offence punishable under Sections 399, 402 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short 'IPC') and 25 of the Arms Act and 21/25/29 of the NDPS Act, registered at Police Station Bhadur, Barnala, District Barnala.

Counsel for the petitioner, at the very outset, has relied upon the order dated 29.07.2021 passed in CRM-M No.22139, 79, 11276, 5570 of 2021, vide which 05 of the co-accused of the petitioner namely, Nirmal Singh, Satwinder Singh @ Chatta, Gurkirat Singh @ Jassi, Kuldeep Singh @ Deepu and Balwinder Singh @ Jassi, were granted the concession of regular bail. The operative part of the said order, reads as under:-

“In order to avoid any discrepancy in the prosecution version, the facts as noticed in the order dated passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Barnala, are reproduced as below:-

“As per the prosecution version, on 1.11.2020 Inspector Baljit Singh was present at T point, Bhadaur where he received a secret information against the accused persons namely Harmit Singh, Balwinder Singh, Jagsir singh, Ravinder Kumar, Gajedar Saran and Amra Ram @ Mukesh have formed a gang and they used to loot petrol pump, mobiles and vehicles on the pointing of illegal weapons. On the basis of this secret information, FIR was registered against the above named accused persons and further investigation was ensued and they were arrested on the same day. From the possession of accused Harmit Singh one 32 bore pistol along with 05 cartridges were recovered which were taken into possession by the police. From the possession of accused Jagdish Singh, one pistol of 315 bore alongwith one cartridge of the same bore were also recovered which were also taken into police possession. Search of accused Ravinder Kumar led to the recovery of one 315 bore pistol and 01 cartridge of the same bore which were also taken into police vide separate recovery memo. On the search of accused Gajedar Saran and accused Amra Ram, 500 grams of intoxicant powder and 25 cartridges were recovered from each of them and as such addition of offence u/s 21, 25/29 of the NDPS Act was made vide DDR no.23 dated 1.11.2020. During further interrogation of accused Amra Ram, recovery of one pistol of 32 bore, 5 cartridges and one Baleno car was effected. From the possession of accused Harmit Singh, Balwinder Singh and Jagdish Singh motor cycle bearing no.PB 05Y 1836 and from the possession of accused Ravinder Kumar, Gajedar Saran and Amra Ram motor cycle No.PB-19-P-2482 were also recovered.

During the interrogation of accused persons namely Ravinder Kumar, Gajedar Saran, Jagdish Singh and Harmit Singh, accused/applicant Kamal Kumar was nominated in this case on 4.11.2020 and he was arrested on 5.11.2020 and 06 live cartridges were recovered from him. From the possession of accused/applicants Gurkirat Singh, Satwinder Singh one motor cycle no.PB-19-E-3908, whereas from the possession of accused/applicants Kamal Kumar and Gurdit Singh one scooty without number plate were also recovered. Then on 8.11.2020 accused/applicant Manga Singh was also nominated in this case and from his possession 06 cartridges of 12 bore recovered and on 12.11.2020 one 32 bore pistol and 03 cartridges were also recovered from his possession. On 5.11.2020 accused Satwinder Singh was arrested in this case and from his possession 4 cartridges were recovered from his possession. Similarly from the possession of accused Gurdit Singh who was also arrested on 5.11.2020, similar number of cartridges to say four were also recovered.

One 32 bore pistol and four cartridges were also recovered from the possession of accused Lovepreet Singh who was arrested in his case on 7.11.2020. From the possession of accused Karanvir Singh, who was arrested on 8.11.2020 10 cartridges of 12 bore were recovered and on 11