The main legal point established in the judgment is the significance of prima facie evidence, the seriousness of the crime, and the need for custodial interrogation in cases involving criminal conspiracy and heinous offenses.

JUDGMENT

Anoop Chitkara, J.

1. The petitioner, Shagun Preet Singh, apprehending arrest in the above captioned FIR, on the allegations of conspiring with others to get sharpshooters, making arrangements for their stay and providing conveyance to the assailants, who, on Aug 7, 2021, at the petitioner's instance fired multiple shots on Vicky Middukhera at Mohali, Punjab, causing his death, has come up before this court under section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [CrPC], seeking anticipatory bail.

2. In paragraph 22 of the bail petition, the petitioner declares that he has no criminal antecedents.

3. The Station House Officer of the above-mentioned police station recorded the statement under section 154 CrPC of Ajaypal Singh Midhukhera, the brother of the deceased Vikramjeet Singh alias Vicky Midhukhera, wherein he informed that on 7th Aug 2021, Vicky Midhukhera had gone to the office of a property consultant at Sector 71, Mohali. After some time, the complainant had also driven to meet the consultant. When he had taken a turn towards the parking lot of the said office, he noticed two boys coming out of a white colouri-20 car with registration number PB/65 AK-7530. After that, they fired at his brother, who started running to save his life, but both the assailants also chased him and kept on firing continuously. Two other persons sitting in same i20 also came out and ran after his brother, who, to save himself, entered the community center. The complainant also followed them and noticed that the assailants were firing at his brother, and later on, they fled away in the same i20 car and carried the weapons with them. The complainant took his brother to IVY Hospital in the same sector of Mohali, where the doctors declared him dead. Based on this information, the police registered the above-mentioned First Information Report (FIR).

4. The facts as stated above are predominantly from the FIR. The remaining facts are taken from the status report of the case filed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police having jurisdiction over the matter.

5. The post-mortem examination of the body confirmed the bullet injuries as the cause of death. Apart from collecting other scientific evidence from the crime scene, the investigators also recovered twelve empty cartridges, four unused cartridges, and one bullet-laden cartridge from the spot. Further, the deceased's car was seized to collect scientific evidence of bullet marks. The property consultant had CCTV camera installed outside his office, and the police also obtained the video recordings (DVR) of the same.

6. On Aug 07, 2021, the complainant informed the Investigator through his statement recorded under section 161 CrPC that around one and a half years ago, Gaurav Patial alias Lucky had threatened Vicky Middukhera. The said person was nominated as accused based on this statement and it was found on inquiry that GauravPatialwas confined in Nabha Jail after conviction in an FIR of 2012 for murder. The Investigator obtained his fingerprints and other details from the jail's record.

7. On Sep 11, 2021, the complainant further informed the Investigator that Amit Daggar and Kaushal, who were associates of Gaurav Patial, were involved in the conspiracy to commit murder of his deceased brother, and the Investigator recorded his supplementary statement under section 161 CrPC to the said effect. The investigation revealed that Kaushal was already under arrest in another case and was confined in Central Jail Gurdaspur, and similarly, Amit Daggar was also under arrest and confined in the jail of Delhi. After obtaining production warrants, their custody was taken for interrogation, and they were later arrested in the present case. During their interrogation, the accused Kaushal disc