The prosecution must establish a complete chain of evidence and exclude any other hypothesis than the guilt of the accused in cases based on circumstantial evidence.

JUDGMENT :

Siddharth Mridul, J.

The State has instituted the present appeal under section 378(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.P.C') assailing the impugned judgment dated 14.02.2011, in Session Case No. 47/08, arising out of FIR No.98/06, registered at Police Station Mehrauli; whereby the learned Trial Court has, acquitted the accused Om Prakash, the respondent herein, of the charges framed against him under section 302/363/376/201 Indian Penal Code (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC') 1860.

2. The case of the prosecution as elaborated by the trial court is briefly encapsulated as follow: -

"That on 17.02.2006 an information was received regarding missing of a child Ms. Bobby in P.S-Mehrauli which was noted vide DD No. 8A. The case was registered for the offence under section 363 IPC was registered on 21.02.2006 on the statement of Sh. Vijay Poddar (PW1). Ex. PW1/A vide FIR. Ex. PW6/A, hue and cry notice was released. On 25.02.2006 a dead body was recovered from a water tank situated in a godown in plot no. 10/34 Yog Maya temple complex, Mehrauli. The presence of the dead body in a water tank was noticed when a foul smell started emanating from a water tank. The dead body was recognized by the Sh. Vijay Poddar (PW1) as that of his daughter, relevant seizures were made, site plan prepared, photographs taken; and investigation was commenced to try and find the murderer of the child.

During the investigation two rehriwala Suraj(PW14) and Bablu told the police that the deceased was last seen with the accused on 17.02.2006 going toward the forest; when police arrested the accused, the pocket diary was recovered at the instance of the accused from his room which was seized by the investigating officer vide Ex.PW11/1; and the same clothes of the accused which he wore at the time of occurrence of incident were also seized by the police vide memo Ex.P9-P10. The pocket diary Ex. PW11/F was containing a writing on page of 17.02.2006; 'MAI 17 TARIQ KO KAAM KIYA EK LADKI KE SAATH'. Since the diary was bearing the handwriting of the accused as per his disclosure statement, the investigating officer took place specimen handwriting of the accused S-1 to S-12(Ex. PW15/F-1 to Ex. PW15/F-12). The exhibits, thereafter, were deposited in the malkhana and the investigation was handed over to Inspector C.K Sharma. As per the report of the handwriting expert the questioned writing as Ex. Q1 and Q2 in the black diary tallied with the specimen handwriting of the accused S1 to S12(Ex. PW15/F-1 to Ex. PW15/F-12); clothes of the deceased were having some blood stains and semen stains, therefore, they were sent for FSL and per the FSL(Ex. PW19/B) the sweater of the deceased Ms. Bobby was having semen stains of blood 'A' group and pant(Ex. P9) of the accused was also having semen stains of the blood 'A' group. Therefore, on the basis of the evidence of the last seen of one Babloo and Suraj, handwriting expert report and the FSL report, charge-sheet was prepared and the accused was sent for trial for the offence under section 302/363/376/201 IPC."

3. In order to establish the guilt of the accused, the prosecution has examined 19 witnesses in all. Statement of the accused was recorded under section 313 of Criminal Procedure Code, (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.P.C'), 1973, wherein he denied the case of the prosecution in toto and pleaded not guilty.

4. The prosecution in order to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt relied upon the following circumstances: -

a. The testimony of PW-14 Suraj, who had last seen the deceased in the company of the accused, in the morning of 17.02.2006.

b. The extra-judicial confession of the accused before Dr. Rajat Mitra (PW13), who gave the assessment report about the accused and opined that the accused was a 'Pedophilic', a term used for a person who is sexually attracted towards children.

c. The recovered items: clothes (Ex.P9, Ex.P10) worn at the time of incident by the accused which were reco