ORDER :

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Uday Umesh Lalit pronounced the Reportable Judgment of the Bench comprising His Lordship and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha.

The operative portion of the judgment reads as under:

“1. Delay condoned. Leave granted.

18. That leaves us with subsidiary evidence regarding recovery, which in the absence of substantive evidence, by itself would not be sufficient. In the circumstances, in our considered view, the prosecution failed to establish its case beyond reasonable doubt. The appellant would, therefore, be entitled to acquittal. The instant appeal is thus allowed acquitting him of the charges levelled against him.

19. We must now consider the effect of dismissal of S.L.P. (Crl.) No.9957 of 2016 preferred by co-accused-Devender alias Dhola. The order dismissing the special leave petition did not give any reason for dismissal.

20. In our view, the cases of both the convicted accused i.e. Devender and the present appellant stand on the same footing and if after having considered the matter, benefit is given to the present appellant, similar benefit ought to be extended to Devender.

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22. In the premises, for furthering the ends of justice,