Three sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for attempted murder after throwing student into canal in Punjab

LUDHIANA: A local court sentenced three individuals to ten years of rigorous imprisonment each for attempted murder after they threw a student into a canal. The court of Additional Sessions Judge Parminder Kaur also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of the three convicts.

In default of payment of the fine, they will have to undergo an additional six months of rigorous imprisonment.On 10 September 2021, Sadar Jagraon police booked Inderjit Singh Billa, aged 25, Akashdeep Singh Ricky, aged 22, and Mandeep Singh, aged 23, all from Sohian village, under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC for attempting to murder Tejinder Singh of Sudhar village.According to the prosecution, the complainant, Tejinder Singh, recorded a statement with the police stating that he was pursuing a Diploma in Electrical at ITI of Jassowal village.

On 8 September 2021, he received a phone call from Inderjit Singh suggesting they meet and have fun. Upon receiving the call, he went outside his house, where Inderjit Singh and Akashdeep met him on a motorcycle. They took him to Sohian village, where they went to Mandeep's house. There, they offered him coke from a bottle lying at the house. He refused to drink it, but they forcibly made him drink two glasses of coke. After drinking, he started feeling dizzy.

They then took him on a motorcycle towards the canal and led him to the canal bridge. Inderjit, with the intention to kill, pushed him into the canal. When he tried to get out of the water, Inderjit Singh throttled his neck and attempted to kill him. Mandeep and Akashdeep pushed him back into the canal and took his mobile phone. He managed to get out of the canal and reached Kular Grid, where an employee informed his uncle, Sandeep Singh, who brought him home. As he was unwell, he was admitted to the civil hospital. He further stated that the motive behind the incident was that Inderjit's family discovered he was taking intoxicants, and Inderjit suspected that Tejinder disclosed this to his family.The police later registered a case and arrested the accused. After completing the investigation, they filed a chargesheet in court.The defence counsels for the accused argued that the accused did not commit any offence as alleged and were falsely implicated in the case.The court, after reviewing the evidence, observed that the plea of false implication was not credible, as the accused failed to counter the prosecution's version or provide any evidence to prove their claim. "Even during the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses, nothing could be brought on record to shatter the prosecution story and prove that the accused were falsely implicated. No animus of the police officials with the accused has either been alleged or proved on record," the court remarked.

"Further, no complaint has been moved by the accused to the higher authorities regarding their false implication."