The evidence of an accomplice must be corroborated in material particulars connecting the accused with the offence.

Judgement

KAPUR, J. : The appellant and two others were convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge, Gohilwad, under Ss. 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code for the murder of Kanji and they were sentenced to imprisonment for life under the former section and to seven years rigorous imprisonment under the latter. The sentences were concurrent. On appeal the High Court set aside the conviction of Nanji Ravji but upheld the convictions and sentences of the appellant and Karamshi Bhawan. The appellant has come in appeal to this Court by Special Leave.

2. The deceased Kanji was rather an unsavoury character in village Chiroda and it is alleged that he had illicit connection with Shrimati Shantu the sister of Karamshi and also used to follow about Smt. Baghu the sister of the appellant for a similar object. It is stated that five days before the occurrence the appellant Karsan, Karamshi, Nanji and Gumansinh approver met and decided to murder the appellant. With that object in view Gumansinh approver was to decoy the deceased to the Vadi of the appellant and there the murder was to be committed. At about sunset on March 19, 1958, the deceased was decoyed to the place as previously arranged and there he was murdered by the appellant who gave him a few blows with a sharp cutting instrument called Dharia. According to the statement of the approver the dead body was wrapped in the scarf of the deceased and was carried by the appellant from the place of the murder to the dry bed of the river and there it was buried in a pit. Nothing was heard of the murder or of the deceased till on March 26, 1958, a brother of the deceased made a report to the police about his disappearance and that he suspected the three uncles of the appellant. Subsequently the appellant and the other accused persons were taken into custody by the police. One of them while in the custody of the police, was allowed to go to the village and have asked the help of Shamji and Manilal P. Ws. He also made a confession to them and they reported the matter to the police. On March 31, 1958, Gumansinh and Karamshi made confessions which were recorded by a Magistrate. Between March 26, and March 31, recoveries of various articles were made. At the instance of the appellant, it is stated, the dead body and then the head of the deceased was recovered from a distant well. At the instance Nanji on March 28, 1958 a scarf was discovered in the pit in which the dead body was, according to the approver, buried. On the scarf, there were some hairs which on analysis by the Chemical Examiner were found to be similar to the hairs of the appellant and of the deceased. A day previous, i. e., March 27, 1958, at the instance of the appellant silver buttons which were stained with human blood were discovered from the field of the appellant. A small stick like a baton belonging to the deceased was also found at his instance.

3. The High Court rejected the confession of Karamshi on the ground that it was not voluntary. It acquitted Nanji on the ground that there were no corroboration in regard to him of the approver s statement, the place where the dead body was buried was not discovered at his instance, his production of stick and a shirt and trousers from his house was of no consequence, and the oral evidence was contrary to the medical evidence and Karamshi s confessional statement could not be used against Nanji.

4. In regard to the appellant the High Court accepted the testimony of the approver as being a reliable piece of evidence. It attached no importance to the recovery of the cutting instrument, Dharia, nor to the discovery of the stick (Dhoka) at his instance. But the High Court did rely upon the discovery of the dead body of the deceased, i. e., the trunk and the head, at the instance of the appellant and of the blood-stained buttons also at his instance and attached importance to the scarf recovered from the pit where the dead body was alleged to have been first buried and which had hairs