IMPORTANT POINTS
Part of the statement, whether confessional or not, which was exclusively within the knowledge of the accused will be admissible in evidence.
Discrepancies of trivial nature should be ignored.

Judgment :-

Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, J.

1. This appeal is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Patna at Bihar dated 02.11.2007, passed in Criminal Appeal No.690 of 2005. The said appeal was disposed of along with Criminal Appeal No.606/2005, as well as Death Reference No.8 of 2005.

2. To trace the brief facts, the deceased Chhotu Kumar Das @ Abhinav Das (hereinafter referred to as ‘Chhotu’) son of the informant Gopal Prasad Das (PW-6), left his house on 21.04.2002 at about 8.15 p.m., for visiting a local Mela, which was held every year in the village on the eve of Ram Navami. Thereafter, he could not be traced inspite of a search by his parents and, therefore, a written report was submitted by PW-6 at the police station on 22.04.2002 at 10.30 a.m. briefly narrating the circumstances in which the deceased could not be traced. No suspicion was raised against any person for the disappearance of the deceased.

3. Based on the written report, the police registered the FIR in P.S. Case No.39/2002 and proceeded with the investigation. The investigation was carried out by PW-9, the Sub-Inspector of Police. In the course of the investigation, he came across some suspicious materials against the appellant by some of the witnesses. PW-9, therefore, interrogated the appellant on 22.04.2002, whereafter he was arrested. The appellant made a confessional statement before the police on 23.04.2002 and based on the admissible portion of the said confessional statement, the dead body of the deceased was recovered from a river known as Maldiha Dhar. The co-accused Arun Mandal @ Arun Kumar Mandal was also arrested, while another accused Sudhir Kumar Mandal could not be apprehended on that day. The inquest of the body was prepared on 24.4.2002 at 5.00 p.m. and the postmortem was conducted by PW-10. It was based on the above investigation, the prosecution proceeded against the appellant along with the other accused, namely, Girendra Gupta, Arun Mandal and Sudhir Mandal for offences under Sections 364(A), 302, 201 and 120-B IPC.

4. The appellant and the co accused pleaded innocence and the trial Court proceeded with the case. The prosecution examined PWs-1 to 10 on their side. In the 313 questioning, the appellant and the other accused made a total denial. The trial Court based on the evidence placed before it reached the conclusion that the appellant and the co-accused Arun Mandal, were guilty of the offences falling under Sections 364(A), 302, 201 and 120-B, IPC and imposed death penalty on them and in the light of the said sentence held that no separate sentence was passed against them. The other accused, namely, Girendra Gupta and Sudhir Mandal, were acquitted of all the offences charged against them.

5. By virtue of the death penalty imposed, the Death Reference No.8 of 2005 came to be dealt with by the High Court along with the appeals preferred by the appellant being Criminal Appeal No.690/2005 and the other appeal preferred by the co-accused Arun Mandal in Criminal Appeal No.606/2005. The High Court by the judgment impugned, while upholding the conviction imposed on the appellant held that no offence was made out as against Arun Mandal and he was acquitted of all the charges. As far as the appellant was concerned, while affirming the conviction, the High Court commuted the death sentence to imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 IPC and held that there was no sufficient evidence to hold him guilty of the charge under Section 364 and 120-B IPC. He was found guilty of charges under Sections 302 and 201 IPC.

6. We heard Ms. Rakhi Ray, Amicus Curiae for the appellant and Mr. Sanat Tokas, learned counsel representing Mr. Gopal Singh, learned counsel for the State. Learned counsel for the appellant in her submissions was mainly contending that this case being one purely based on circumstantial evidence, the reliance placed upon by the trial Court, as well the High Court on the confessional statement of the appellant