Ludhiana: A local court has sentenced six persons to life imprisonment in a triple murder case, which had rocked Dehlon in 2011.
The court of additional sessions judge Jasvir Singh Kang also imposed a fine of Rs 65,000 each on the convicts Jagtar Singh (34), Ravinder Singh Ravi (26), Jaskirat Singh Keetu (26), Satbir Singh (28), Gurpal Singh (35) and Davinder Singh (27). These convicts belonged to Jassowal Soodan and Kheri villages in Dehlon.
The six had murdered Inderjit Singh and his friends Gurpreet Singh and Inderbir Singh of Jassowal Soodan village over rivalry.
On December 8, 2011, Dehlon police station had booked the six under Sections 302 (murder), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), and 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the IPC.
Jaspal Singh, younger brother of Inderjit Singh, in his statement to police had said on December 7, 2011, he along with his brother and friends spent some time in their fields situated outside the village.
At about 10pm, Inderjit and his friends had left for their homes on a motorcycle while Jaspal followed them on his own bike.
When they reached near the dumping ground for dead animals, Jagtar Singh, Gurpal Singh, Ravi, Satbir Singh, Keetu and Davinder Singh attacked his brother and friends with weapons like swords and dagger.
Jaspal said as he saw the crime, he hid himself in a dark corner and saw the accused with the help of motorcycle headlight. Later police arrested the six and recovered the weapons used in the crime. They produced challan against them in the court of law.
During the trial of the case, the accused claimed that they were falsely implicated in the case due to political rivalry.
The additional public prosecutor for state pleaded for maximum sentence under the law on the basis of prosecution evidence including statement of eyewitness.
The defence counsel contended that testimony of Jaspal Singh cannot be relied upon as he was sole eyewitness.
The court observed that nature of injuries found on the bodies is fully in consonance with the ocular evidence of Jaspal Singh regarding the manner in which the injuries were caused.
It added, “Further the number of injuries on each body supported and corroborated the version of Jaspal Singh. Murder of three persons has been committed by the accused. So, it cannot be said that any of the accused has been falsely and otherwise implicated in the case. Such type of occurrence cannot be believed to have been caused by two/three assailants. So, the contention of learned defence counsels that the testimony of PW1 Jaspal Singh cannot be relied upon as being sole eyewitness cannot be said to have any force and substance.”
