IMPORTANT POINT
When chain of circumstances is not complete, accused cannot be convicted.

JUDGMENT :

R.F. Nariman, J.

1. The present case involves a gruesome murder. The head was actually decapitated from the body, was put into a gunny sack, and thrown into a canal roughly 10 kms. away from the place of the murder. All this is supposed to have taken place on 15.12.2000, and suffice it to say that the Court of Sessions outlined a large number of points, all of which can be placed under five heads, namely, i) the motive for killing the deceased; ii) last seen theory; iii) recovery of the dead body in a gunny sack together with clothes and a knife; iv) the fact that the two accused persons, who were stated to be brothers, were absconding after the incident and v) the fact that Accused No.2 gave false information to PW-1, who is the father of the deceased, as to the whereabouts of the deceased.

2. The Sessions Court, on a combination of the aforesaid five factors, ultimately held the two accused guilty of murder and sentenced them to imprisonment for life.

3. In appeal to the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad, the Division Bench of the High Court found that the case being one of circumstantial evidence, the chain is not complete; all that remains is suspicion which cannot take the place of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, the High Court acquitted the two accused. Being aggrieved, the Complainant preferred this appeal, by way of special leave.

4. We have heard Mr. D. Bharat Kumar, the learned counsel appearing for the appellant-Complainant and Mr. Tushar G. Rao, learned counsel appearing for the accused/Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 at considerable length.

5. It is the case of the Complainant that motive has clearly been made out by atleast three witnesses, the last seen theory has been made out, recovery has been effected, the two accused persons have been found absconding and the false information given cumulatively would complete the chain of circumstances inevitably pointing to the two accused having committed the crime.

6. Learned counsel appearing for the appellant-Complainant also cited before us three judgments of this Court, two of which deal with the last seen theory and the third a recent concurring judgment by one of us, namely, R.F. Nariman, J., in Crl. Appeal No. 1792/2013 (P. Eknath vs. Y. Amaranatha Reddy @ Babu & Anr.), in which it has been found that the High Court has ignored vital pieces of evidence.

7. The learned counsel appearing for the respondents, on the other hand, took us through the evidence and, according to him, no motive can be made out for the reason that PW-5, who is the only witness competent to speak of motive has been declared hostile and, in fact states that there were no illicit relations between the lady concerned and the deceased.

8. He also states that the last seen theory cannot be said to be established in the present case inasmuch as PW-1, who is the only witness relied upon by the Sessions Court, has not, in fact, seen the accused together with the deceased but was told this by his brother who is PW-3, who, in turn, has not been a credible witness. Thirdly, according to the learned counsel, the extra judicial confession made to PWs 6 and 7 must be discarded against the accused as PW-6 is a stock witness who has dealt with 25 cases on his own admission, and the so-called extra judicial confession was made in the Police Station itself.

9. Equally, so far as PW-7 is concerned, he also appears to be a stock witness and cannot be believed. This being the case, even though recovery may have taken place, there is nothing whatsoever connecting the recovery to the two accused who were said to have committed the offence. Also, according to him, the mere fact that the two accused may have been absconding cannot by itself take the matter very far. Neither can the fact that false information was given as to the whereabouts of the deceased by accused No.2 to PW-1.

10. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties, we are of the view that it is very difficult for