JUDGMENT :

N.S. Shekhawat, J.

1. The present appeal has been preferred against the impugned judgment dated 16.09.2003, passed by the Court of Sessions Judge, Amritsar, whereby, the respondents were ordered to be acquitted of the charge.

2. As per the case of the prosecution, the FIR in the present case was registered on the basis of the statement made by Inder Kumar son of Suraj Nathand the same has been reproduced below:-

“Stated that I am resident of village Mehapur(Bihar) and do as Masonry work. Sunesh Kumar son of Lakhan Ram, Kamlesh son of Banesar and Janardhan son of Kaletar Ram, caste Ravidass residents of Mehapur(Bihar) and Pardeep Kumar who is also resident of Bihar and I am not aware about his full address we work as a masson andwe have been residing in village Kot Budha for the last 2 and half years. Inderpal son of Dhanpat Rai caste Khatri resident of village Kot Budha also work with us as a masson and Pardeep Kumar used to keep his earning money with Inder Pal. About 2/3 days earlier he used to go to Inderpal to take his money from Inder pal and Inder Pal used to put him of. Pardeep Kumar used to say that he has to go to his village in Bihar. Today at about 8 A.M. Inder Pal, Binder Pal and Baljit Kumar sons of Dhanpat Rai caste Khatri residents of village Kot Budha came to us and they took Pardeep Kumar with them on the pretext to settle the account. Pardeep Kumar did not return home till evening then I, Sunesh Kumar and Janardhan went to the village in order to search of him. We came to know secretly that Inder Pal, Binder Pal and Baljit Kumar have killed Pardeep Kumar after administering him some poisoning substance and they have kept the dead body of Pardeep in the house of Inder Pal. We took Kulwant singh, Balbir singh sons of Rattan Singh,Hardev singh and Jassa singh sons of Kulwant singh Jats of the village Kot Budha and went to the house of Inder Pal.It would be 9 P.M and we noticed in the light of Torch that Inder Pal, Binder Pal and Baljit Kumar all the three were tieing the dead body of Pardeep Kumar in plastic Palli near their room of Turiwala (wheat chalf fodder). On seeing us they all ran away from there. The motive is that Pardeep Kumar used to keep his earning money with Inder Pal. On demanding back his money. Inder Pal, Binder Pal and Baljit singh have killed Pardeep Kumar after administering him some poisoning substance. After leaving Sunesh and Janardhan at the spot to guard the dead body. I alongwith Kulwant singh son of Rattan singh, Jat, r/o Kot Budha was going to lodge the report at the police station that you have met. Action be taken. I have heard the statement which is correct”. Attested:- Sd/Hardeep Singh, ASI”.

3. After the registration of the formal FIR Ex.PH/3, ASI Hardeep Singh along with the complainant and other police officials visited the place of incident and the dead body was found lying in the Verandah of the house, wrapped in a plastic sheet and Sunesh and Janardhan were found near the dead body. The inquest report was prepared and the post mortem was got conducted by moving an application Ex.PA. Even, the plastic sheet was taken into possession by Inspector Swaran Singh and the usual investigation was conducted at the spot. After completion of the investigation, challan was presented only against Inderpal Singh, respondent No.1 and respondents No.2 and 3 were kept in column No.2. However, an application under Section 319 Cr.P.C was moved and respondents No.2 and 3 were also ordered to be summoned to face trial along with Inderpal, respondent No.1.

4. After the summoning of respondents No.2 and 3, charge was again framed under Section 302 IPC against the respondents and the charge was read over and explained to the accused, to which they pleaded that they had been falsely involved and claimed to be tried by the Trial Court.

5. To prove the charge against the respondents, the prosecution examined PW-1 Dr. Sukhwinder Singh, Medical Officer, who had conducted the post mortem examination