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Dr. ARIJIT PASAYAT, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant who was convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the `IPC'), and Section 148 of IPC. He was sentenced to undergo RI for life and one year respectively for the two offences.

3. This is one of the cases of a nature which are increasing by leaps and bounds i.e. commission of offence for property. In the instant case the key player is the appellant Dalbir (hereinafter referred to as the `accused') who killed his uncle Ram Pratap (hereinafter referred to as the `deceased') and the key witness is Surja Ram (PW8), the grandfather of the accused.

4. Flittering out unnecessary details the case of the prosecution is as follows:

On 17.5.1995 on receipt of a ruqa from the doctor, CHC Rania, regarding admission of injured Ram Partap (since deceased), Sub Inspector Ram Partap, visited the hospital where the doctor produced before him a ruqa regarding death of Ram Partap, Surja Ram, complainant, father of the deceased, was found present there near the dead body. He made a statement to the effect that he had two sons, namely Banwari and Ram Partap. Banwari had two sons, namely, Dalbir the accused and Om Parkash. Banwari had already died two years ago. Ram Partap used to reside with him and they also owned landed property in village Mameran, where family of Ram Partap used to reside and cultivate the land. His deceased son Ram Partap had come to him three-four days earlier for thrashing the wheat and when they were thrashing the wheat, at about 9.30 p.m. after stopping the operation of thrasher, Ram Partap went to nearby canal for taking a bath. After some time, a jeep came and stopped near the bank of the canal and in the meanwhile, five-six persons came down from the jeep and went near Ram Partap. Accused Dalbir Singh raised a lalkara to Ram Partap deceased that he should be taught a lesson for cultivating the land of his grand father. Complainant recognized the voice of Dalbir and rushed towards them and saw that Dalbir had a tangli in his hands, whereas other persons were armed with lathi, jallis and gandasis and were causing injuries on his son Ram Partap. He raised an alarm as to why they were attacking Ram Partap and on seeing him, all the assailants ran away with their respective weapons in the said jeep and he did not know the names of the remaining persons. He further disclosed that the relationship between them and Dalbir was strained, as he wanted to take share of his land. His son became unconscious due to the injuries suffered by him. He went to village for making arrangement of a jeep of one Sukh Ram at about 12.00 during night he shifted Ram Partap to CHC Rania for medical treatment, where doctor treated Ram Partap and during treatment he succumbed to his injuries. Dalbir alongwith his companions caused injuries to his son without any right. On the basis of this statement, Ex. PD/1 and an endorsement made by Sub Inspector Amar Singh thereon, a case was registered against the accused. The Investigating Officer started the investigation, recorded statements of the witnesses and thereafter sent the dead body for autopsy.

Dr. Dharambir Singh conducted post mortem examination on the dead body of Ram Partap the deceased and found ten injuries on his person. He disclosed the cause of death to be due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of injuries to vital organs, which were ante mortem in nature and sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. Sub Inspector Amar Singh went to the place of occurrence and lifted blood stained earth from there and sealed the same in a parcel and took it into possession after preparing recovery memo of the same. He also recorded the statements of Kamla, the widow and Durga, the daughter of Ram Partap deceased on the same day. From their statements, it was revealed that in the evening on the previous day at about 7 P.M., they were going to the fields to serve meals to Ram Partap Surja and others, who were thrashing the wheat in the fields. When they passed near the house of Dalbir accused, they saw a jeep bearing No.HR-44A 0856 standing in his courtyard and there Pala Jani, Sube Singh, Krishan, Kuldeep and Parkash, all accused, were talking to each other. They were known to these witnesses. Two persons were sitting in the jeep and when these witnesses were returning from their fields towards home and reached near the culvert of canal, the same jeep came near them and stopped. From the side of the jeep, Dalbir asked them about the whereabouts of Ram Partap, and they told him that he was in the fields. Then Dalbir asked Madan to take the vehicle ahead. In the meantime, one person got down the jeep for urinating and when the jeep started Sube Singh called him by the name of Devi Lal to come immediately and then all of them occupied their seats in the jeep and went.

They had seen all the persons in the house of Dalbir in the evening and these witnesses came to know that during night hours Dalbir and others had caused injuries to Ram Partap, who died later on. After completion of necessary formalities, accused were sent up for trial.

 Accused were charge sheeted for offences punishable under Sections 302 and 148 read with Section 149 IPC to which they did not plead guilty and claimed trial.

The Trial Court placed reliance on the evidence led, more particularly, PW8 and directed conviction and imposed sentences as aforenoted so far as appellant is concerned and directed acquittal of co-accused. In appeal, before the High Court the main stand taken was that PW8 had undergone eye operation about two years prior to the date of occurrence and in dark night there was no scope for identification. The High Court did not accept the stand and held that identification was possible, particularly, when the accused was the grandson of the witness. The appeal was dismissed by the impugned judgment.