Advocates:
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. Deepender Singh, Mr. Ashish Bansal, Mr. J. S. Dhaliwal, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Mr. Gaurav Jindal, Addl. A.G., Haryana. Mr. Ajay Rawat

JUDGMENT :

Jasgurpreet Singh Puri, J. (Oral) -

All the three petitions are taken up together for final disposal with the consent of learned counsel for the parties since all the three petitions arise out of the same FIR and the prayer in all the three cases is for grant of regular bail.

2. All the three petitions have been filed under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for the grant of regular bail to the petitioners in FIR No.345 dated 31.08.2021, under Sections 147, 148, 302, 323, 506 of the IPC and Section 25/54/59 of the Arms Act (Sections 364, 212 of the IPC and Sections 30 and 54 of the Arms Act added later on), registered at Police Station Ballabgarh Sadar, District Faridabad, Haryana.

3. CRM-M-1297-2024 and CRM-M-59382-2023 are the second petitions, whereas CRM-M-8436-2024 is a third petition and as per the learned counsels for the petitioners, all the earlier petitions were dismissed as withdrawn.

4. The present FIR was lodged on the basis of a complaint made by one Dharmender by alleging that on the occasion of Janmashtmi, he had brought a pot of curd i.e. dahi ki matki from Vrindavan and was offering the same at Shiv Mandir, Bhatpura Road, Sotal. When he along with his family members was present at the temple, then Om Parkash, Naveen and his family members had already offered a pot of curd at the temple prior to them. At that point of time, co-accused Narvir @ Sonu, who was with Om Parkash was having a pistol in his hand, Tej Pal @ Changa was having a farsa in his hand, Kanwarpal @ Bholi was having a lathi in his hand, Om Parkash @ Babbar was having a sword in his hand, Naveen @ Nanga was having a farsa in his hand, Rohit Rana (petitioner in CRM-M-8436-2024) was having a danda in his hand, Yogesh (petitioner in CRM-M-59382-2023) was having a danda in his hand, Lekhu (petitioner in CRM-M-1297-2024) was having a danda in his hand, Chander Bhan was having a danda in his hand, Surya Dev was having a danda in his hand and Manoj was having a danda in his hand. They in connivance with each other were ready in advance for quarrel and fight. Thereafter, Chander Bhan threatened Dharmender to kill him and abused him and said that today a lesson would be taught to him and Dharmender with folded hands was taken away by his family members from the spot. In the meanwhile, Dharmender (the complainant) and his son Pushpender, Pardeep, Jeetu and Bahadur were following the rest of their family members on their way back. Dharmender was not aware that Bhupender was left behind them. All of aforesaid accused covered the mouth of Bhupender and forcibly took him in the paddy fields. When they moved few steps ahead of the temple they heard a noise of fire shot and when they turned back and ran towards the place from where the sound of fire shot had come, then they saw that all of them were beating Bhupender. When they tried to rescue him, all of the aforesaid accused attacked them. Thereafter, injuries were inflicted upon Pushpender, Pardeep, Jeetu and the complainant and the aforesaid accused threatened them that today they have been saved and they will see them later on. Thereafter, when they lifted Bhupender from the paddy fields, he told them that all of them had covered his mouth and forcibly dragged him. Bhupender also told that Narvir @ Sonu had fired shot on him and all the above persons had attacked him with weapons which they were holding in their hands. Thereafter, Bhupender became unconscious and was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead by the doctors.

5. All the learned counsels for the petitioners have stated that all the three petitioners are in custody for about 2^1/2 years. So far as Lekh Raj alias Lekhu (petitioner in CRM-M-1297-2024) is concerned, he is stated to be in custody for 2 years, 5 months and 20 days, Yogesh Kumar (petitioner in CRM-M-59382-2023) is stated to be in custody for 2 years, 5 months and 20 days and Rohit Rana (petitioner in CRM-M-8436-2024) is stated to be in custody for 2 years, 5 mon