P&H HC Grants Bail To Conspiracy Accused After Nearly 4 Years In Custody, While Alleged Shooter Withdraws Plea

The petitions sought regular bail under Section 483 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), in connection with FIR No. 144 dated 8 December 2022, registered at Police Station City Nakodar, District Jalandhar.

The prosecution alleged that, on 7 December 2022, armed assailants fired upon Bhupinder Singh alias Timmy and his gunman, Constable Mandeep Singh; both later died.

Gurwinder Singh alias Ginda was implicated in an alleged conspiracy, principally on the basis of co-accused disclosure statements, and was not identified as an assailant in the video of the incident.

Kamaldeep Singh was alleged to be one of the actual assailants identified through the video; a pistol and four live cartridges were recovered upon the arrest of the initially identified assailants.

The prosecution proposed to call 69 witnesses; seven had been given up and nine had been examined when the petitions were considered.

Section 483 of the BNSS empowers the High Court to grant regular bail.

In considering bail, the Court assessed the individual role attributed to each petitioner, the nature of the prosecution material, the period of custody, the likely time for trial to conclude, and parity with co-accused already released on bail.

The judgment cites no specific precedent or further statutory test; it treats the bail assessment as dependent on the circumstances of each petitioner’s case.

For Gurwinder, the Court distinguished an alleged conspiratorial role based primarily on co-accused disclosure statements from direct participation in the shooting.

It also considered that similarly placed co-accused had received bail, that he had been in custody for more than three years and ten months, and that only nine of 69 proposed witnesses had been examined. In those circumstances, the Court concluded that further incarceration would serve no useful purpose at that stage.

By contrast, the prosecution alleged that Kamaldeep was an identified shooter, with the incident captured in a video and a firearm and ammunition recovered following the arrest of the initially identified assailants.

The Court regarded his alleged direct participation and the resulting deaths of two people, including a police officer, as materially distinguishing his case from Gurwinder’s.

Kamaldeep Singh’s petition, CRM-M-55941-2026, was dismissed as withdrawn after his counsel sought permission to withdraw it.