Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J.:- The appellant has been convicted under Section 395 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo 10 years rigorous imprisonment for having committed dacoity along with others in the house of P. W. 4 Baijnath Prasad.

2. The facts of the case have been detailed in the judgments of the trial Court and the High Court and it is not necessary to repeat the same.

3. The central evidence against the appellant consisted of the testimony of P. Ws. 1 and 2 who were the servants of complainant P. W. 4 Baijnath Prasad. It appears from the evidence that Baijnath Prasad was a rich business man of the locality and the accused-appellant Lakshman Prasad was his next door neighbour having a double storeyed house. Both the Courts below have accepted the prosecution case that a dacoity took place in the house of Baijnath Prasad in the course of which cash and other articles were stolen away. In the instant case, counsel for the appellant has not challenged this finding of the Courts below. We are also satisfied that a dacoity undoubtedly took place in the house of Baijnath Prasad. The only question that falls for consideration is whether or not the appellant participated in the crime. P. Ws. 1, 2 and 4 have supported the prosecution case that the appellant clearly participated in the dacoity and was, in fact, the leader of the dacoits. After going through their evidence, we do find that there is some amount of consistency in their evidence but mere congruity or consistency are not the sole test of truth. Sometimes even falsehood is given an adroit appearance of truth, so that truth disappears and falsehood comes on the surface. This appears to be one of those cases. There are many inherent improbabilities in the prosecution case so far as the participation of appellant is concerned. In the first place, admittedly the appellant was a respectable man in the sense that he was possessed of sufficient means and was a well-known homeopath doctor and also the neighbour of the complainant. In this view of the matter, it is difficult to believe that he would commit dacoity in the house of his own neighbour and that too in the early hours of the evening, so that he may be caught any moment and take the risk of a conviction under S. 395 Indian Penal Code. Secondly, the evidence of the complainant P. W. 4 clearly shows that the dacoits had no doubt concealed their identity but they did it in such a way that their faces were visible. Indeed, if the appellant had participated in the dacoity and took the precaution of concealing his identity, then he would have seen to it that his face was fully covered so that identification by the complainant or the witnesses would become impossible. If he was a dare-devil, then he would not have concealed his identity at all. Thirdly, FIR having been lodged the same evening the police visited the house of the appellant next morning and found him there. If the appellant had really participated in the dacoity, he would have at least made himself scarce. The house of the accused was also searched and nothing incriminating was at all found. Finally, there was the important circumstance that in view of a dispute between complainant Baijnath Prasad and the appellant, there was a clear possibility of the appellant having been falsely implicated due to enmity. The complainant himself admits that there is a boundary wall around the house of the appellant and there is a road which runs to the east of his house and the mill of the complainant is situated to the west of the house. There is evidence of D. W. 2 that there has been some dispute between Baijnath Prasad and accused Lakshman Prasad two or three years before the occurrence of dacoity in respect of a passage near the house of accused Lakshman Prasad through which he used to go to his mill. The evidence of D. W. 2 does support what the complainant has himself admitted. The gravest provocation which the complainant must have felt was the fact that Lakshma