IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Reserved on: 09.01.2025 Pronounced on: 24.01.2025 Raj Kumar @ Raju ...Petitioner Versus State of Punjab …Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANOOP CHITKARA Present: Mr. Prateek Pandit, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Akshay Kumar, A.A.G., Punjab.

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ANOOP CHITKARA, J.

FIR No. Dated Police Station Sections

175 13.07.2023 Kotwali, District 160, 302, 303, 323, 324, 325, Kapurthala 326, 332, 186, 353, 148, 149, 120-B IPC and 42 of Prisons Act

1. The petitioner incarcerated in the FIR captioned above came before this Court under Section 439 CrPC seeking regular bail.

2. Per paragraph 13 of the bail application and 6 (iii) of status report, the accused has the following criminal antecedents:-

Sr. FIR No. Date Offenses Police Station No.

1. 160 25.07.2013 323, 324, 326, 201, 148, 149 City Kapurthala IPC

2. 254 12.10.2013 22-61-85 of NDPS Act City Kapurthala 3. 227 05.09.2018 323, 324, 326, 452, 307, 148, City Kapurthala

149 IPC

4. 185 17.07.2019 21/22/29-61-85 of NDPS Act City Kapurthala

5. 16 24.01.2020 336, 323, 506, 34 IPC and 25 Sahnewal, of Arms Act District Ludhiana

6. 169 22.05.2020 22, 29-61-85 of NDPS Act City Kapurthala

7. 76 25.06.2020 21/29-61-85 of NDPS Act and STF Sector 79, 25 of Arms Act Mohali

8. 216 27.12.2020 21/29-61-85 of NDPS Act New Baradari

9. 130 09.06.2019 21, 22, 29 of NDPS Act City Kapurthala 10. 51 05.03.2021 174-A IPC City Kapurthala

3. The facts and allegations are being taken from the status report filed by the State, which reads as follows:-

“3. That it is respectfully submitted that the present case bearing FIR No. 175 dated 13.07.2023 under Section 160, 302, 303, 323, 324, 325, 326, 332, 186, 353, 148, 149, 120-B. IPC and Section 42 Prison Act, was registered at Police Station Kotwali, District Kapurthala on the complaint of Hemant Sharma, the then Additional Superintendent, Central Jail, Kapurthala initially against 22 prisoners including the present petitioner i.e.,reflecting at Sr. No. 1) Prisoner Raj Kumar @Raju son of Vijay Kumar, PID 522317 resident of Mohalla Raika, Police Station City Kapurthala, District Kapurthala who was confined in jail Regarding FIR No. 254 dated 12.10 2013 under section 22 of DPS Act at Police Station City Kapurthala, District Kapurthala (Room no.2 of Barrack no.06).

That the contents of the above FIR No. 175 dated 13.07.2023 are not being reproduced herein for the sake of brevity as the same have been annexed with the petition as Annexure P-1.

4. That after the registration of the above said FIR, thorough investigation was conducted and from the footage of the CCTV cameras at the spot, it has transpired that on 13.07.2023 at about 7.30 AM, about 30-35 inmates inclusion with each other gathered at Phase-2 gate from their barracks, at Central Jail Kapurthala, out of which 31 prisoners have already been identified, out of whom, some of the inmates had weapons and some were empty handed 21 inmates crossed the gate of Phase-2 and proceeded towards security ward-E. On the way, on being stopped by the police and security forces, they scuffled with them as well. These prisoners entered the Chakki No. 17 of the Security Ward E and had gravely beaten Simranjit Singh @ Simar son of Resham Singh, and his 3 companions Surinder Singh @ Jimmy son of Mann Singh, Amanpreet Singh @ Sonu son of Sarabjit Singh and Varinder Pal Singh @ Raja were also beaten. And that Simranjit singh @ Simar was Seriously Injured. The remaining 11 inmates along with about 7-8 unknown inmates stopped the police personnels from closing the gate of Phase-2, So that there is no disturbance to their fellow inmates while returning from security Ward-E after the incident. That, during the investigation it was also found that the present petitioner was involved in the conspiracy and he along with the other 35- 36 accused prisoners conspired together to cause injures to the now deceased inmate namely Simranjit Singh Alias Simar & his three other accomplices with intention to ki