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2026 Supreme(Online)(All) 97549

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
Hon'ble Siddharth,J. and Hon'ble Vinai Kumar Dwivedi,J.
Sobaran And Others – Appellant
Versus
State Of U.P. – Respondent
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1689 of 2000

Advocates:
Petitioner: Agnivesh , Imran Mabood Khan , Jadu Nandan Yadav , Radhey Shyam Yadav , Ravindra Singh and Shivam Yadav
Respondent:Ajay Kumar Srivastava , Govt. Advocate and Janardan Yadav

A conviction based on circumstantial evidence requires a complete, unbroken chain of circumstances establishing the accused's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The 'last seen together' theory cannot form the sole basis for conviction, especially when evidence lacks corroboration and procedural requirements for the discovery of incriminating objects under law are violated.

Headnote:(A) Indian Penal Code, 1860 - Sections 148, 302 read with Section 149 - Conviction for murder - Circumstantial evidence - 'Last seen together' theory - Essential that time gap between when victims were seen alive and found dead is minimal - Conviction based on this theory alone without supporting corroborative evidence is insufficient to sustain the charge. (Paras 25, 26, 27)

(B) Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 27 - Discovery of incriminating material - Requirement for recorded disclosure statements - Mere pointing out of weapons of offense without prior recording of disclosure statement renders recovery memo suspicious and inadmissible in evidence - Absence of proof that blood found on recovered weapons belongs to the victim breaks the chain of circumstantial evidence. (Paras 30, 31)

(C) Circumstantial Evidence - Appreciation of evidence - Five 'golden rules' (panchsheel) - The chain of circumstances must be complete and unerringly point toward the guilt of the accused - Any missing link or doubtful evidence warrants acquittal - Trial courts cannot rely on conjectures or surmises to infer guilt. (Paras 33, 34, 35)

Facts of the case:
Several individuals were convicted by the trial court for murder despite the absence of direct evidence. The prosecution relied upon the theory of 'last seen together' through multiple witnesses, and the alleged discovery of murder weapons at the instance of the accused after their arrest. The appellants challenged this, arguing the theory was a delayed fabrication and the discovery was legally flawed.

Findings of Court:
The court observed that the witnesses were inconsistent and unreliable, having failed to report their observations to anyone until much later. The investigation lacked recorded disclosure statements, making the weapon recovery highly suspicious. Furthermore, the forensic reports confirmed the presence of human blood but failed to establish whose blood it was, thus creating a significant void in the chain of circumstantial proof.

Issues: The central issues were whether a conviction could be sustained solely based on the 'last seen together' theory and if the recovery of weapons complied with statutory requirements despite the lack of recorded disclosure statements.

Ratio Decidendi: The court ruled that the conviction was based on conjecture. Circumstantial evidence requires a complete, unbreakable chain pointing exclusively to the guilt of the accused. Weak testimony and procedural lapses in the recovery of evidence fail to meet the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt required for murder convictions.

Result: Appeal allowed. Judgment and order of conviction and sentence set aside.

(Delivered by Hon’ble Vinai Kumar Dwivedi, J.)

1. This Criminal Appeal No. 1689 of 2000 (Sobaran and Others Vs. State of U.P.) has been preferred by accused-appellants against the judgment and order of the Trial Court dated 19.07.2000, passed in S.T. No. 138 of 1997, State Vs. Sobaran and Others arising out of Case Crime No. 226 of 1996 under Sections 148, 302 read with Section 149 I.P.C., Police Station Nawabganj, District Farrukhabad.

2. Informant Mohd. Yunus Son of Alisher Khan-(PW-6), resident of Ganipur, Nawabganj, P.S. Nawabganj, Farrukhabad, has filed written report Exhibit Ka-6 at Police Station Nawabganj, District Farrrukhabad. In Exhibit Ka-6, informant Mohd. Yunus-PW-6 has stated that I Mohd. Yunus son of Alisher Khan is a resident of Ganipur, Nawabganj. Today on 12.12.1996, I had gone to Block Compound to inquire about distribution of trees. At that time, it was 01:00 O’ clock of the day. I saw that some children of the school and villagers were running fast towards North from Block Compound. I tried to know the problem and after reaching 300 meters away, I saw that dead bodies of two persons were lying in the wheat field of Ram Swaroop Pal son of Jodha Lal Pal resident of Hamirpur Bogar, Police Station Nawabganj, in which one person wore pant, shirt and the other woar Kurta, Paijama and Sadri. There were many injuries on their faces due to this it is difficult to identify their faces. I have come to police station to give information about this fact, accordingly. This information dated 12.12.1996 has been lodged by Mohd. Yunus PW-6 at Police Station Nawabganj.

3. On the basis of the information Exhibit Ka-6, an FIR Exhibit Ka-21 was registered at Case Crime No. 226 of 1996 under Section 302 IPC on 12.12.1996 against unknown accused persons by Constable Clerk Krishna Dutt Dixit PW-9. Krishna Dutt Dixit PW-9. After registration of the FIR also entered and prepared G.D. rapat No.24 at 03:30 pm as Exhibit Ka-22. After registration of the FIR-Exhibit Ka-21, investigation of the case was taken into his hand by SHO Shivraj Singh PW-8. I.O. Shiv Raj Singh PW-8 has reached with police team including Sub Inspector Rajaram Suman PW-5 and Sub Inspector R.N. Tiwari PW-7 at the place of occurrence. Under direction of I.O. Shivraj Singh PW-8, S.I. Rajaram Suman PW-5 collected sample of plain soil and blood stained soil, near the dead body of the deceased Awadhesh and prepared recovery memo Exhibit Ka-2. From the place of occurrence, he has also taken into possession one bar of bamboo and prepared recovery memo of this as Exhibit Ka-3. He also took simple soil and blood stained soil from near the place of the dead body of the deceased Sobaran and prepared a recovery memo Exhibit Ka-4. Under direction of S.I Shivraj Singh PW-8 and R.N. Tiwari PW-7 prepared panchayatnama of deceased Sobaran as Exhibit Ka-7. He also prepared other related police papers of panchayatnama, such as letter to CMO, photolash, challanlash, report to R.I. as Exhibit Ka-8, Exhibit Ka-9, Exhibit Ka-10 and Exhibit Ka-11, respectively. S.I. R.N. Tiwari, PW-7 on the same date prepared panchayatnama of the deceased Awadhesh as Exhibit Ka-12 and other necessary police papers, such as report to CMO, Challannash, Photolash, report to R.I. as Exhibit Ka-13, Exhibit Ka-14, Exhibit Ka-15, respectively. After preparing the panchayatnama of the deceased Sobaran and Awadhesh, the dead bodies of the deceased were handed over to Constable Dev Dutt Pandey and Shivraj Singh PW-8 for postmortem examination.

4. After receiving information about the dead bodies of Sobaran and Awadhesh and identification of the above dead bodies, father of the deceased Sobaran, Hariram PW-1 has also got ascribed written report Exhibit Ka-1 from Ram Niwas PW-2 and submitted it at police station Nawabganj, district Farrukhabad. In his written report Exhibit Ka-1, Hariram PW-1 has stated that on 7.10.1996, Satish Chandra, son of Feru Singh of my village was bitten by snake, due to which, he died. Fe

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2026 Supreme(Online)(All) 97549

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABADHon'ble Siddharth,J. and Hon'ble Vinai Kumar Dwivedi,J.Sobaran And Others – AppellantVersusState Of U.P. – RespondentCRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1689 of 2000

Cases Referred (5)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
Hon'ble Siddharth,J. and Hon'ble Vinai Kumar Dwivedi,J.
Sobaran And Others – Appellant
Versus
State Of U.P. – Respondent
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 1689 of 2000