Himachal Pradesh High Court
Nikhil Chandel vs State Of H.P on 4 February, 2021
Bench: Anoop Chitkara
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
Cr.MP(M) No. 115 of 2021
Reserved on: 22nd January, 2021.
.
Date of Decision: 04th February, 2021.
Nikhil Chandel ...Petitioner.
Versus
State of H.P. ...Respondent.
Coram:
The Hon'ble Mr. Justice Anoop Chitkara, Vacation Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 NO
For the petitioner r: Mr. Manoj Pathak, Advocate.
For the respondent : Mr. Narinder Guleria & Mr. Vikas Rathore, Addl.
A.Gs. with Mr. Bhupender Thakur, Mr. Gaurav
Sharma, & Ms. Divya Sood, Dy. A.Gs.
THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCE
FIR No. Dated Police Station Sections
08/2016 25.1.2016 Theog, District Shimla, H.P. 302, 392, 201 & 120-B
IPC
Anoop Chitkara, Vacation Judge.
The petitioner, incarcerating upon his arrest has come up before this Court
under Section 439 CrPC, seeking bail on the grounds that during the trial, the
material witnesses have not supported the case set up by the prosecution.
2. Earlier, the petitioner had filed a petition under Section 439 CrPC before this
Court. However, vide order dated 16.10.2020, the same was dismissed as withdrawn
with liberty to file afresh.
3. In Para 8 of the bail application, the petitioner declares having no criminal
history. The status report also does not mention any criminal past of the accused.
4. Briefly, the allegations against the petitioner, which led to the registration of
the FIR, mentioned above, are that on 25th January, 2016, the Police recorded
statement of Nand Lal under Section 154 Cr.P.C., which led to registration of FIR
Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment?
mentioned above. The complainant alleged that his father Abhi Ram and mother
Ablu Devi were residing for the last 15-20 years, in the orchard, which was at a
distance of one and half kilometers from the village. In between, they would visit
.
village or the family would go to the orchard. He further stated that on 24 th January,
2016 i.e. yesterday, his Massi Radha Devi had come to meet his parents and about
1.00 p.m. had gone to the house of his maternal uncle to meet their family. His
mother has also accompany her and returned in the evening at about 6.00 p.m. Next
day, on 25.1.2016, during day time, his Massi again come and noticed that the room
was locked from outside and there was blood outside the verandah. On noticing the
blood, she called him and upon that he reached Ro Jubbad. He broke open the lock
and noticed that inside the room, his parents were lying dead and articles of the
house were scattered here and there. On arrival of the police, they noticed that his
father was hit on his head whereas, the neck of his mother was hit with some
weapon. The postmortem examination pointed out towards murder. The Police
collected evidence from the spot and started investigation. The investigator obtained
call details of deceased Abhi Ram and started investigation from that angle. The call
details revealed that on 24.1.2016, during day time a call was received by him from
mobile No. xxxxx-93380. On 24 th January, 2016, when the investigator was on
patrolling and erected a barricade, then they noticed one vehicle bearing NO.HP01A-
4763. Apart from the driver, three boys were sitting in the vehicle. On inquiry, those
three boys were looking perplexed, which arose suspicion in the mind of the
investigator and he started investigation. During investigation they found that phone
number of Nikhil Chandel (A-2), the same from which the call was made to the
deceased. Thus the police conducted investigation and police teams visited the
homes of these three persons. The investigation revealed their name as Rakshak
Khachi (A-1), Nikhil Chandel (A-2) and Nitin Verma (A-3). It further revealed that
they were students of LR Institutes and were staying in a rented accommodation in
Ochhghat. They were drug dependents and had knowledge that the couple keep
money with them and stay alone. They also came to know that the deceased was
keeping charas with him and they decided to rob the same. The Police also recorded
their statements under Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, which led to recovery
of weapon of offence. The police seized the clothes of accused and blood on the
pants of Nikhil Chandel, Shoes of Rakshak and Jecket of Nitin Verma matched
completely with the DNA obtained from the sweater of deceased Ablu Devi. Further
the blood on the 'Darat' recovered pursuant to statement of the accused under
Section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act, also matched with the blood of deceased Ablu
.
Devi.
5. Learned Counsel for the petitioner contends that the petitioner is a first
offender and incarceration before the proof of guilt would cause grave injustice to the
petitioner and family.
6. On the contrary, Learned Deputy Advocate General contends that offence is
heinous, accused is a risk to law-abiding people, and bail is likely to send a wrong
message to the society.
7. In this case the scientific evidence connects the accused with the commission
of offence.
8.
Mr. Manoj Pathak, Advocate, has refrred to the statements of witnesses, most
of whom have been examined. However, the documents which the learned Counsel
referred were neither filed with the petition, nor its copies supplied to the Court and
the State. Thus, the Court cannot base any finding on a document in the Counsel's
brief and not on Court's file.
9. Learned Counsel for the petitioner has also made several other arguments. Still,
given that this Court is not inclined to grant bail, on the reasons mentioned above,
discussion of the same will be an exercise in futility.
10. Given above, in the facts and circumstances peculiar to this case, at this stage,
the petitioner fails to make out a case for bail. The petition is dismissed with liberty
to file a new bail application.
11. Any observation made hereinabove is neither an expression of opinion on the
merits of the case, nor shall the trial Court advert to these comments.
The petition is dismissed.
(Anoop Chitkara),
Vacation Judge.
February 04, 2021 (ps).
