The judgment underscores the high standard of proof required for circumstantial evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases.

JUDGMENT

Arun Kumar Tyagi, J. - The convict-Ravi Kumar (hereinafter referred to as the accused) has filed the present appeal against the judgement of conviction dated 23.10.2009 and order of sentence dated 26.10.2009 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Faridabad in Sessions Case No. 68 of 2008 titled State vs. Ravi Kumar whereby the accused was convicted and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment and to pay fine of Rs. 1,000/- and in case of default in payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 6 months under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short "the I.P.C.") and to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3 years and to pay fine of Rs. 500/- and in case of default in payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3 months under section 201 of the I.P.C. Both the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

2. Briefly stated, the case of the prosecution is that on 22.04.2008, Braham Singh, Inspector/SHO Police Station, Sarai Khawaja, along with Constable Jora Singh was present in Gypsy driven by EHC Rajesh on Sarai Chowk for VIP duty. Information was received by VT from control room that one dead body was floating in Ganda Nala(drain) (hereinafter referred to as "Ganda Nala") NTPC near Khadda Colony, Delhi in the area of village Basantpur, Faridabad. On receipt of the information, Braham Singh, Inspector/SHO along with the staff reached the spot where Police Post In-charge ASI Karamvir Singh along with the staff, Yogesh Verma and 8-10 persons met him.

Yogesh Verma made statement to Braham Singh Inspector/SHO that he is working as Civil Contractor. On 22.04.2008, at about 8:00 P.M., he was coming to his house i.e.

H.No.D-147, Basantpur Colony, Basantpur, Faridabad through Khadda Colony Ganda Nala NTPC. When he was crossing on Ganda Nala, he saw naked young boy floating in dead condition in the water. In the meanwhile many persons gathered there. They took out the dead body from Ganda Nala. His neck was half cut from front side from which blood was oozing out. Out of the crowd, one person informed the police on telephone number-100. The boy was aged about 27/28 years. OM was written on his right hand. His body was thin, face was long and length medium. Some unknown person had murdered him by cutting his neck with deadly weapon and dropped him in Ganda Nala so that his name and address could not be traced.

Since the statement revealed commission of offences punishable under sections 302 and 201 of the I.P.C., Braham Singh, Inspector/SHO sent ruqqa to Police Station, Sarai Khawaja on the basis of which FIR No. 105 dated 22.04.2008 was registered.

Braham Singh, Inspector/SHO investigated the case, got the post-mortem conducted on the dead body, conducted inquest proceedings, by making efforts got the dead body identified to be that of Nanu alias Krishan Nandan, and thereafter on finding sufficient evidence arrested the accused. During investigation, the accused made disclosure statement to Braham Singh, Inspector/SHO confessing his guilt and got the weapon of offence i.e. knife kept in iron almirah in his house and personal belongings of the deceased i.e. shirt, trouser, slippers and purse containing passport size photograph, copy of ration card and amount of Rs. 110/- made up by two currency notes of the denomination of Rs. 50/- and one currency note of the denomination of Rs. 10/- wrapped in a polythene kept in attache on the 'tand' (shelf) of his house recovered in accordance with his disclosure statement. The accused also identified the place of occurrence where-from blood stained earth was seized. The Investigating Officer recorded the statements of Ramsakhi, mother and Uma Shankar and Raghunandan brothers of the deceased.

In her statement, Ramsakhi alleged that on 21.04.2008, as usual her son had gone in the morning on work. At about 10:00 P.M. he came back and told her that the contractor had given him Rs. 300/- for him and Rs. 700/- for