The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of reliable witness identification, credible recovery evidence, and the lack of independent witnesses in criminal cases.

S.P. Garg, J.

1. Prem Singh @ Prem (A-1), Sachin Verma @ Ashu (A-2), Tarkeshwar @ Bittoo (A-3), Ravi Gupta @ Ravi (A-4), Gopal (A-5), Bharat (A-6), Ravinder Singh (A-7), Rambishan @ Vishnu (A-8), Ram Singh (A-9) and Bhim @ Sagar (A-10) were arrested by the police of PS Karol Bagh in case FIR No.72/05 for committing offences under Sections 395/412/397/34 IPC. FIR Nos.84/2005, 85/05 and 86/05 were registered in police station Karol Bagh against A-1, A-4 and A-9 respectively for committing offences under Section 25 Arms Act.

2. On 03.02.2005, Daily Dairy (DD) No.40A was recorded at 08.45 p.m. at police station Karol Bagh on getting information about the commission of robbery at Shop No. 36/3089, Karol Bagh. The investigation was assigned to SI Baljeet Singh who with Const.Kundan Singh went to the spot. After recording complainant-Saroop Santra’s statement (Ex.PW1/A), he lodged First Information Report. The complainant disclosed that at about 8.15-8.30 p.m. when he was present in the shop along with his worker Anant Bera and partner’s brother Ram Krishan, two individuals entered into his shop. One of them slapped him as a result of which he fell down. The other assailant slapped Anant Bera. In the meantime, their two associates entered into the shop; opened the iron safe; and robbed the jewellery articles. The complainant further disclosed that the assailant who was ‘tall’ in height and had an iron rod inflicted injuries to him. After the robbery, the assailants sped the spot. On 04.02.2005, Gopi Kishan Patra, complainant’s partner, discovered that 3993 grams of gold jewellery was robbed from the shop. The police swung into action to find out the culprits and succeeded to apprehend A-1 on the basis of secret information on 10.02.2005. A country made pistol was recovered from his possession and FIR bearing No.84/05 was registered against him. Pursuant to A-1’s disclosure statement (Ex.PW- 9/C), involvement of his associates emerged and lead to the arrest of A-4 and A-9 with recoveries of weapon from their possession for which FIR Nos.85/05 and 86/05 under Section 25 Arms Act were lodged. A-2, A-3, A-5, A6 and A-7 were also arrested. They all recovered robbed jewellery articles. (A-1) recovered a gold chain and a kara from under the mattress of the bed in a room of his house at House No.57/1726, Naiwalan, Karol Bagh; at A-2’s instance, one gold kara weighing 60 grams was recovered from underneath the mattress of his house at A-32, Majlis Park, Adarsh Nagar; gold jewellery weighing 120 grams was recovered from A-3’s possession; A-4 recovered gold jewellery weighing 187 grams; A-5 recovered 55 grams of robbed jewellery from the drawer of his shop at 3154, Gali No.34, Beadon Pura; and, similarly A-6, A-7 and A-8 recovered the jewellery articles on their apprehension. A-9 recovered jewellery weighing 364 grams. A-10 was declared Proclaimed Offender. Subsequently, he was arrested but nothing was recovered at his instance. During the course of investigation, statements of witnesses conversant with the facts were recorded. A-4 and A-9 declined to participate in the TIP proceedings whereas A-1 was identified by PW-7 (Manu Karan). The complainant recognized and identified the recovered articles in Test Identification Proceedings in the court. The exhibits were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory for examination. After completion of investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against all the accused persons; they were duly charged; and brought to trial. By an order dated 22.07.2005, they were charged under Section 394/395 read with Section 397 IPC. Charges under Section 411 IPC were framed against A-1 to A-9. The prosecution examined 28 witnesses to substantiate the charges. In 313 statements, the accused persons denied their complicity in the crime and alleged false implication. They examined nine witnesses in defence. After appreciating the evidence and considering the rival contentions of the parties, the trial court by the impugned c