IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 04.03.2025.

Bhupinder Singh ....Applicant/Appellant.

Versus State of Haryana and others ...Respondents.

***

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR SINGH HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUKHVINDER KAUR .......

Present: Mr. Parminder Singh, Advocate and Mr. Chirag Wadhwa, Advocate for the applicant/ appellant.

Mr. Hitesh Pandit, Addl. A.G., Haryana.

***

Sukhvinder Kaur , J .

1. Applicant/ complainant Bhupinder Singh has preferred the instant application under Section 378(4) Cr.P.C. seeking leave to appeal against judgment dated 30.11.2019, passed by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Karnal, vide which respondents No.2 to 5 have been acquitted of offences punishable under Sections 120-B, 409, 467, 468, 471, 201 read with Section 120-B IPC and Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. 2. The factual scenario, as highlighted by the prosecution, is that complainant Bhupinder Singh son of Singara Singh, resident of village Dungra, Tehsil Indri, District Karnal filed a complaint dated 09.07.2014 Ex.P3 before ADGP, CID, Haryana for taking action against accused Ajit Singh Sarpanch for embezzling funds of the Panchayats by making payments of bills for development works, which were carried out with sub- standard materials and not as per specifications of the government. On the basis of aforesaid complaint Ex.P3, police registered enquiry No.74/FSO/CM/2015. During the enquiry, statement of the complainant Ex.P4 was recorded on 08.09.2014, in which details of such works, in which either sub-standard material was used or complete material was not used, were given. These details included execution of work of cleaning the pond of village Dungra, construction of pucca street from the house of Harsukh to the main road, filling earth with JCB, for making village pond pucca, making road of village Phirni pucca, laying down pipeline for drainage of dirty water from the pond of village Gumto to the main old drain, construction of RCC road from the house of Satpal to pond. As per the allegations, in the year 2010 accused Ajit Singh was elected Sarpanch of Panchayats of villages Dungra and Gumto, Block and Tehsil Indri, District Karnal for a period of five years. Various development works were executed in the village falling under said Panchayats, during his tenure from 2010 to 2015. In the said works complete material as per specifications was not used and rather works were executed with sub-standard material. It was alleged that accused Ajit Singh Sarpanch, co-accused Prabhjot Singh, supplier of material along with Dharambir and Baldhir Singh, Gram Sachivs of the Panchayats hatched criminal conspiracy to embezzle funds/ grants given to the Panchayats by the Government. In the enquiry conducted by DSP Sham Lal, it was concluded that all the four accused in conspiracy with one another embezzled Rs.1,65,595/- of the Panchayat by using sub-standard and incomplete material in the aforesaid development works, by making forgery in the muster-rolls, by inflating the bills of material equipments etc.

3. On the basis of enquiry report, Ex.P-71, FIR No.427 dated 08.10.2015, under sections 120B, 406, 409, 420 IPC, Police Station Indri (Ex.P1), was registered. During the course of investigation, statements of witnesses under section 161 Cr.P.C. were recorded. Various documents and records of the Panchayats were taken into possession by the investigating team. Specimen handwriting of the accused was taken for comparison. Samples of material used were taken from the spot and sent for analysis to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Haryana, Madhuban, Karnal, which analyzed the samples and gave its report Ex.PW18/A dated 28.03.2018.

Disclosure statements of accused were also recorded.

4. After conclusion of investigation, report prepared under section 173 Cr.P.C. was put before competent authorities for according prosecution sanction of public servants, namely, Dharambir and Baldhir Singh, Gram Sachivs. Competent aut