Holding

The conviction of the appellant under IPC s.302 (and related sections) is not justified as the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Summary

Mani and another accused were charged with murdering Sivakumar under IPC s.302, s.34 and s.201. The prosecution alleged that Mani had taken the deceased to his house, where blood was later found and blood‑stained clothes and a koduval were recovered based on the accused’s own statement. The trial and High Courts convicted Mani, relying heavily on circumstantial evidence, the alleged motive arising from a family dispute, and the discovery of the stained articles. The Supreme Court held that the prosecution failed to prove exclusive ownership or possession of the house where the blood stains were found, could not link the recovered clothes to Mani, and that the discovery evidence was weak and unreliable, with key witnesses turning hostile. No motive for Mani was established, and the evidence did not satisfy the standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt. Consequently, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction and ordered Mani’s release.

Issues considered

The prosecution proved the guilt of the appellant beyond reasonable doubt on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
Whether the house where blood‑stained material was found was owned or possessed exclusively by the appellant.
Whether the discovery of blood‑stained clothes and the koduval can be linked to the appellant.
Whether a motive for the appellant’s participation in the murder was established.
Whether the discovery evidence under Section 27 of the Evidence Act is admissible and sufficient for conviction.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 313
Indian Evidence Act, 1872s. 27
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201, s. 302, s. 34

Subjects

murdercircumstantial evidencediscoverymotivehouse ownershipbenefit of doubtIPC s.302criminal appealEvidence Act s.27conviction set aside

Judgment

[2008] 1 S.C.R. 228

A MANI ·.--.
v.
STATE OF TAMIL NADU
(Crl.A. No. 443 of 2006)
JANUARY 8, 2008
B
[P.P. NAOLEKAR AND V.S. SIRPURKAR, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860 - s. 302 - Murder - Prosecution of ..
two accused - Circumstantial evidence - Deceased last seen
c with both the accused - Motive for murder alleged to be
strained relation between the co-accused and father of the
deceased - Offencf! alleged to have been committed in the
house of the accused - Blood stainecl articles found in the
house - Delay in lodging FIR - Recovery of clothes and
weapon of offence at the behest of both the accused - ·
D Witnesses to the recovery turning hostile - Conviction of both
the accused by trial court- High Court convicting the accused,·
but acquitting the co-accused disbelieving the circumstances .,.,
of motive and discovery - On appeal held: Conviction not
;ustified - Prosecution failed to prove exclusive ownership and
E possession of the house where blood stains found - No proof
that the discovered clothes belonged to the accused - In the ·
circumstances of the case discovery is without any credence
- Motive against the accused not proved.
/Evidence Act, 1.872 - s. 27 - Discovery - Evidentiary
.
F value of- Held: It is a weak kind of evidence - Conviction on. ~ .. .
the basis of such evidence alone, not permissible.
Appellant-accused along with another accused (A·2),
was prosecuted for having kllled one person. According
G to the prosecution case, the motive for murder was on
account of strained relationship between A·2 and father
of the deceased. Circumstances leadlng to the Incident
were that the appellant-accused took the deceased
alongwlth him at about $.00 P.M. on the day of the Incident.
When the deceased did not return home tlll 10.00 P.M.,
H 228
MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU 229

..,.
. PW-1 (father of the deceased) went to the house of the A
appellant, he saw that blood was oozing from the water
passage underneath the door frame of the locked house
of the ippellant. He returned back and was told by PW-2
that the deceased was last seen in the company of the
appellant and A-2. On the next day morning, when PW-1 B
went to the house of the appellant, he found trail of blood
near the house. The body of the deceased· was traced
-~ lying in the field belonging to PW 5. Thereafter PW-1 lodged
the~complaint with police. During investigation, when the
house of the appellant was broke open, blood-stained
materials like cement flooring, human hair and brass lock
c
were found. Appellant surrendered before the court. Blood
stained clothes of accused (MO 15-17) and koduval (MO
18) were recovered as his behest. A-2 was also arrested
and his blood-stained clothes were recovered. Trial Court
convicted both the accused u/s 302 IPC. High Court D
acquitted A-2 disbelieving the circumstances of motive
)r and recovery. However, appellant was convicted. Hence
the present appeal against the conviction.
Allowing the appeal, the Court
E
HELD: 1. This is not a c;ase where the prosecution
has proved the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable
doubts. This is clearly a case for benefit of doubt. [Para 25]
[242-DJ
2. The first circumstance held by the High Court F
against the appellant is that the Koduval (iVl.0.18) was
found with sticking hair and it is proved that the scalp
hair of the diceased was found similar to the hair sticking
.to the Koth.ivai and that M.Os 15, 16 and 17 were the
clothes
I -
found
-
with stained blood. This circumstance by G
Itself IS of no consequence. Even if it is accepted that the
Koduval and the alleged clothes had the blood stains, that
does ·not connect the appellant with the crime.[Paras 15
and 22) (237-D, E; 241-F]
3.1 High Court suggested that if the appellant took H
230 SUPREME COURT REPORTS {2008] 1 S.C.R.

A the deceased at 6.00 p.m. on 24.11.1996 to his house
where ttre deceased was done away with, the burden
shifted on the first accused to show how the· deceased ·
died in- his house. This is not the correct position of law.. '
The appellant had very clearly :stated in his examinatioh
B under Section 3-13 ChP:C. that the house did not belong
to his father and that it was lying vacant and nobody had
occupied it:There-is no evidence worth the name lead by· '
the prosecution to -suggest the _exdusive owne·r.shi)> or.·.
the possession of the house belonged to th1f appeffa11t. '.
C Much could have been done.to establish itS'dWnetship
by filing the revenue record of that house7'N,o such.
documentary evidence was collected by the prosecution.· ·'
The Higl1 cGurt has not discus,sed this asp·ect.M'excl~si~~ :.
ownership and possession at all arid has·'proceeded on".-
the presumption that the hou'se belonged 'io a11c:r'was ., -
D posses·sed by the appellant herein. [Pcira 161 '[2.37°-F, G, t-i;
.238-A, B, CJ , . · ·, . .
.. .- '
3.2 The Panch witness P.W.6. though had referred to
the said house as th~ _ho\,lse of the appellant; has clearJy
admitted in his cross-examination that he did not know
E as to in whose name stood the said house. [Para '17)
[238-C] .
. .~.. . '. ·... ~-···-~ ... ·-~·: .. ~
3:3 The Investigating O'fficer PW 14, has nev,er,
asserted that the concerned house was appellant's hquse. ·
F though he, in his examination-in-chief referred to that
ho4s~ as appellant's house. He had to admit in his cr0ss + ..
examination that he djd not interrogate any other resident ·
He also had admitted that he had never que~tfoned the
Village Administrative Officer as to in whose name was
G the s~id house. Though this witness commonly referred
to that house as appellant's house, it ls difficult to hold
that -the prosecution had established the exclusive
ownership and possession of that house as against the
appellant. [Par.a 18 ] [238-E, F, G] · · ·
--
H 4.1 The two witnesses to the discovery had turned
.MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NAo'U 231

hostHe~·.They c·ompletely disowned the 'prosecution case A
that\thefappellant was examirielf by the Inspector and
during that.examination, appellamt was enquired and he
gave .confessional statement-a rid· that he would' show the .
hidden clothes which he worn at the time of the incident
and ~lso. th.e kodu~~I which was. used .at the time of t~e B
incident. They only accepted that they.had.signed the said
statement. Beith.these witnesses were.chance witnesses,
they' be.ing':the reg~lar'visitors to the poll'te station, and it
appe'ars tha.t they_,wEfre merely ysed b.y the investigating
·, 1-~ , <;;• , ' : • ,, f . ' • ; , >, • • •

agency: In fat:J, tfier~. is no explana~ion on how these two
wit'nEtsses· r~acJ1e'd the police station at a!I. [Paxa 20) C
[239-B ·C ·'E 'l=f' .\ .. : . . . . .. . ..
' : ., - '~~-~ :~ "If'! ·J: . .•- .. ,l • ·- ••• .·,_,·, •• ' •

.·,. 4.2 A very Jmportant circumstance was missed by the
courtsJ>~low·w~J~ cQnsidering the evidence regarding
the· discovery. This is about the place where the articles 0
were 'foUnCf: This was nothin~fbut a farce of discovery
1

and could rl'eViif have been accepted particularly because
all the discovered articles'Were lyi'ngbare open barely 300
feet awaylfrorn·the b'ody of the deceased. Where the
discove'1'5' of· the relevant ·articles have been made from
the. open gr'ollnd;1hough:·under the 'bush, that too after E
more than 10 days of the incident, such discovery would
be wi~h()Ht any. fr~~~nc;e,, [Para .29} {239-C, D; 240-C, D, EJ
.·4.3 The.· discovery is a weak kind of evidence and
cannot be·wflolly· relieC:t'upbn and· conviction• in such a F
l + seri.ous matter.cannot be'based upon the discovery. Once
the discoveryJails,-there would be literally nothing which
would.support the. prosecution case. The prosecution has"·.l
failed to prove that';the-h.:<)use:where alleged blood staln's·.-P
wer; .~oun? belonged exclu_siv~ly or_,"¥·~~JN9~~.~§ed c.:: ·
exclusively by the appellant, 1t has been fu~~~!; P..~tl')t~d.i\'lG
out that the discovery was absolutely farcical. There is
one .Q.t.lit~Jrc;i;cy ~W.~~;:mt~fattQr,:igxro:n:ld.::byQbdth~Nfec:cou'rts
th~!J~b~\fPJ.:9~~.cryt)9f1J aelt~f~)nt·ade :any.rattel:ri'ptswto1pftli/e?r1i
that the clothes belo~~~~"',l,oAt~~; f.R~~;ll~-r~~t'itl!?P.!~l is f-..
literally no evidence to'~'iiggist anything to that effect. H
232 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 1 S.C.R.

A Therefore, even if the discovery is accepted It does not
take one anywhere near the crime. Once these two
important circumstances are disbelieved, there Is nothing
which would remain to support the prosecution theory.
[Para 21) [240-G; 241-A, 8, C]
8 5. There was no motive whatsoever much less
entertainable by the present appellant. He had nothing to
do with the straying cattle nor was he a party to
subsequent altercation between P.W.1 and the accused
No. 2. Lastly, there is nothing on record 'to show that he
C was a henchman set up to take revenge by accused no. 2
and he was set up by the accused no. 2 to revenge. If
there was no motive for accused No. 2. how could there
be any motive entertainable by the appellant. Therefore,
even that circumstance has to go. [Para 21) [241-C, D, E]
D
6. The only other circumstance left with Is that. the
appellant called the deceased at 6 O'clock and took him
away, in the absence of any other clinching
circumstances, this circumstance by itself cannot lead to
the only conclusion that the appellant murdered the
E deceased. Therefore, this circumstance has to be ignored.
[Para 23) [241-F, G]
7. The evidence of P.W.1· who had though found the
corpse at night or atleast had realized that something
F unusual had happened, did not bother to go till next day ...
at 10 O'clock for reporting the matter is not impressive. + ..
Evidence of P.W.5 in whose field the body was found
cannot be ignored. She had specifically claimed that this
fact was known to P.W. 1. [Para 25) [242-8, CJ
G CRIMINALAPPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
No. 443 of 2006. "
From the Judgment and final Order dated 17.4.2003 of )-

the High Court of Judicature at Madras in Crl. A. No. 589/2000.
H Prasanthi Prasad for the Appellant. .
MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU 233
[SIRPURKAR, J.]
V. Krishnamoorthy, V.G. Pragasam and S. Prabu A
Ramasubramanian for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court wa_s delivered by
V.S. SIRPURKAR, J. 1. This appeal challenges the
judgment of the High Court whereby the conviction of the B
appellant- Mani for an offence under Section 302 Indian Penal
Code, 1860 read with Section 34 as also the conviction under
Section 201 l.P.C. have been confirmed by the High Court.
2. Originally, there were two accused persons, however,
accused No.2 Moyyasamy has been acquitted by the High C
Court. State has not challenged the acquittal of ace.used
Moyyasamy. We have to therefore consider only whether the
· High Court was justified in confirming the conviction of the
appellant for the offences stated above.
· 3. The prosecution case was that the two accused persons D
had murdered one· deceased Sivakumar who had strained
relationship with Accused No. 2 Moyyasamy. The relationship
was strained on account of the cattle belonging to the father of
the deceased namely P.W.1 Arunachalam having grazed in the
field belonging to accused Moyyasamy. in fact, both P.W.1 E
Arunachalam and accused Moyyasamy are the real brothers
while deceased Sivakumar andP. W.2Amulnathan were the sons
of Arunachalam. On account of the cattle trespass into the field
of A.2 Moyyasamy, there was a quarrel. This trespass incident,
seems to have taken place on 19.9.1996: Sin.ce there was an F
altercation between accused Moyyasamy and his brother in which
accused Moyyasamy had stabbed on the neck of Arunachalam,
he (Arunachalam) had reported the matter to the polic;e.
4. The occurrence in question, according to the
prosecution, took place about two months thereafter on G
24.11.1996. It seems that according to the prosecution, P.W.1
Arunachalam and deceased Sivakumar were chatting with the
family members when accused no~ 1- Mani came there and had
a cup of coffee with P. W.1 Arunachalam and his family. Mani is
said to have taken Sivakumar to his house. This was at about H
234 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008) 1 S.C.R.

A 6.00 p.m .. Since Shiv Kumar did not tum up till 10.00 p.m., P.W.1
went to the house of the appellant Marri and found that blood
was oozing from the house through the water passage
underneath the door frame. The house was found locked. P.W.1
Arunachalam therefore,.came back and he was informed by
B • PW.2 Amulnathan that Sivakumarwas found in the company of
appellant Mani and acquitted accused Moyyasamy at about 7.00
p.m. Though P.W.1 Arunachalam was disturbed on account of
this, he did nothing andonty oh ttie next morning at 6'0 clock he
went to the house of the accused and found trail of blood near
c the house of Mani and ~·ltin:i,ately from that.he !Faced out the
Jn
body_ of the d~ceasedwhich wefs lying'qow~ tp.e nearby field
belonging to...one P.W.5 .Chinnammal. It is t.hen that P.W..1
Arunachalam,rushed to Yerca~d- policestation and gave a
complaint. The case was regist~red under Section 302 l.P.C. ·
D 5. DuringJnvestigation which was done on 25.11.1996 the
' . .
house of appellant.which was lockec_j was qroken ope[! by the
police and the house was se.arched. Some bJood stained
materi?ls like cement flooring, human:ha.ir and blood stained 1
brass lock were .seized ,by the investigating officer. It was found
E in the post-mortem.examination that the deceased had suffered
six injuries on
various parts of the body including·the·n~ck and
thathe.had died due to the inju~ies to ttie vital organs;(lnd also
du~ tq the ,hemorrhage. The seized material ,was sent for the
cherni~?lan~lysis. . . ··
. . ' .

F : 6. The investigating officer came tb know. ~ha.t accused ...
t -
appe·llant tiad surrendered before t~e C:ourt. He, therefore, filed
an application tor the police custody on 28.11.1996 and
ultimately obtained the same on 06.12.'1996. The prosecution
further contended that on the same day on the basis of the
G discovery statement made by the accused appellant, ·blood
stained clothes of the accused namely M.Os 15-1'7 and blood
stained Koduval namely M.O. 1Bwere recovered from theplace
pointed out by the accused. The second accused (Moyyasamy)
was arresteq on 08.12.1996 and.hisblood stained clothes were ·'
H alsore.G.overed. On the basis of the investigation, chargtfstieetu
..MANI v. STATE Of, TAMIL NADU 235 .
[SIRPURKAR, J].

came to be filed. A
·,..

· 7, As m~.~y as .16witnesse~were'exa·mined. The accused··
had denit:d th.eir guilt. Tb.e TriaLCourt· concli!lded that the· .:
prosecutior:i established its case beydn{! 'reasonable doubt and · ··
convicted both. the .accused of the offences as ·aforesaid: · ·
. ·.. .. . . . .. : . , . . •. ,., ..• ··, ..... _. :.····B
·..· 8. Our'ir'rgthe appeal.the High Court came to the conclusior.i ..
that there was no evidetlt:e\vbrt_h tre n,artie again:s(a:s:cu~ed .
no,'2' Mb)'yasamy: Tfie'H:igh Co6rt fudher, helr;l that tl;ie,rnotive .·. !
~. . . ~ ,..,, ' . .( .. : ! t_ ' ' ' - ·~ - ; : $_ •• : • - • .. • '

4 attdbtited by ~~~·prci~etyfior\ _lo 1M,oyyal?~'.11Y:?'·~s ri9.t ~stf}?lis,~ed ,. ·
Thus;· t™r Hig'fi _Cdurt· ~el.9. or\lhe pasls.. of ,f~.e {cict t9~t)h~ c
proset\.ttio:riJhad ·n-of placed"any materla! Jq,;?hJ?r(ythat ,.
subsequent to 19.9.1996, any incidennook· pface so as to
prox!ide,,(119tiy~.fo~!-l'.l·YrdefGf.the,Qe~eeised:!The·H.igh,Cdurt>also
help th.i:lt the.re.w~s.rio $V!d~nce; led .iri to: sbow:that'appellanh··
Maf1Lahd accu'sed'nq.. 2,Moyyasamy,:were the clese associateisi:>
and tnaJ acc.vsed .M6yyas~m.~:had:?et-upJ/'Je;present,appella'f1f. 0 ,-!
to c~mhji(tbe rT)Urder: ot.tn.e.•~i;eaSed· Tht.is, the. High Courtcs '
held th~f(tfere lf)la.s, nothing to jink th f?·accused Moyyasamywith· -: ·
:r the'.crim'e .partic'ularly becs:ius,e there c0uld. be. no moiiv.e' :,;
sugg'e,~l,~c{t~, i(Jtie Jjigh Q~o'u/t ~lso;disbelj§ve,o the discovery, Y1i
matje'by ac9~sed Moyyasamy,of;the l;>,lq9d stai,rlecl.clothes·on•· E -
the lfrounWih'at the. di~_cove,ry Vyal?;be!§lted,[orJhese reasons.,,, , :
accusediMoy,yasainy '4'aS acquitted. HolA(eVE)fl the.High Court;;::-:;
.•·• , .. C: '. -- . - . ~ ·. '\. , ' .. ' - ·- .. -. . '

disml~~,ed t.he appeal in so f~r .as ,,tJ;le, p~e:s€lnt appetlant is .,, "
concerned: ,. ' ,. . . ,.... . ·~.. '
:.. ~: ·2h~-llengingthe 'judgm~hf.~f
thed'iigh' Court, •.• :F'. -:i ie~med
~ counsel points.out that firstly.there coi.Ild be!no m6tfve whatsoever/• · '
on th'e part. of the appellant. Outatrention was in'i1itei:l to thefindin'g...
that there was· no thick relationship between the two accused' .
persons SQ that the ·present appeHant cduld take't1p the cause
of the acquitted accused,M6yy<lsamyic:tnd go to the extent of i:e, ' ~··
murdering the '·'~
deceased.
~ ~
It is further
~i,-~'::t ~·;-\··:, ·-;.·:~·~
•. :
pointed·ouJthat
::~; j;:·>" ·.: ~- . < .~ '
if.at
.
all,
...

there was any·motrye, .1t coulq be,Qn"jhe,p(3rt of the acq1,11tteq .,. ·..
"i· accused since it'~~.s-_he·~~p.·'~~~J~;yghi on) 9 1Q96 with._the. . , ;,; t
fathe_r of th~. d~ce~se.~.a~~l yv~~ .~ (!q~vp.?, ?fas rep9rtecj .aga1D.Sh:~
by P.W.1 Arun~c,nal_atn.:. t~~(pe,~:Ro~ns~L~a~.ia!_.p,~ir:J~,.t9..R9inJ ·H·:c
236 SUPREME COURT REPORTS f2008] 1 S.C.R.

A out that the appellant had nothing to do either in the first incident '--
of the cattle straying into the complainant's field or the
subsequent altercation between Moyyasamy and P. W. 1
Arunachalam wherein P. W.1 Arunachalam was allegedly injured
by accused Moyyasamy. Learned counsel further pointed out
B that the theory of last seen together if at all was to be believed,
then it applied with equal force to the second accused also. At
any rate, the theory was unworkable as the exact time of death
was not established by the medical evidence. Learned counsel 1-
argued that at any rate, this could not be a clinching. circumstance
c against the appellant particularly when the second accused was
acquitted by the High Court.
10. The counsel further urged that the High Court erred in
relying upon the discovery evidence as admittedly the so called
discovered articles were found from the open ground barely 300
D feet away from the body and that it was nothing but a farce. ·
Learned counsel pointed out that the investigating officer was
bound to know about the so called blood stained clothes
(Koduval) as those articles were lying barely within three hundred
feet from the body. Lastly, learned counsel urged that the
E evidence of discovery· could not be held to be sufficient and
could not be relied upon to convict the appellant. Learned
counsel also urged that the prosecution had miserably failed to
establish that the alleged house which was visited by P. W.1
Arunachalam at about 10 O'clock at night actually belonged to
F and was possessed by the appellant. The learned counsel also
pointed out that though P. W.1 Arunachalam had found the body -+ -
at night in the field of P.W.5, Chinnamal he did not even bother
to report the matter to the police and in fact the First Information
Report was hopelessly delayed. He pointed out that this delay
G was also not considered by the High ·court.
11. As against this, learned senior counsel appearing for
the State supported the prosecution and tried to point out that
though this was a case of circumstantial evidence, the
prosecution has not only established each circumstance but had
H also discharged its burden to show that the circumstances
MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU 237
[SIRPURl\<AR, J.]
~f pointed out only to the guilt of the appellant and also suggested A
that he alone and nobody else was responsible for the murder.
1.2. We have closely examined the evidence as also the
original records of the matter and we are .convinced that the
prosecution has not been able to establish the guilt of the
appellant beyond reasonable doubt and that the High Court as. B
well as the Trial Court have erred in convicting the accused. Our
.> reasons are as follows : .
-\
13. There can be no dispute that deceased Sivakumar
had died homicidal death. The question .is whether the c
prosecution has been able to connectthe present appellant with·
the crime? The case undoubtedly depends upon circumstantial
evidence. It will be therefore our task to examine all the
circumstances relied upon by the courts below.
14. Though the Trial Court has discussed nine D
circumstances, the High Court has not discussed are the
circumstances in seriatum.
~
15. The firsfcircumstance held by the High Court against
the appellant is that the Koduval (M.0.18) was found with sticking
hair and It la proved that the scalp hair of the deceased was E
found similar to the hair sticking to the Koduval and that M.Os
15, 1E~ and 17 were the clothes found with strained blood. In our
opinion, this circumstance by itself Is of no consequence unless
those material objects are connected with appellant.
.
- + 16. An Interesting statement was made by the High Court F
suggesting tha' if the appellant took the deceased at 6.00 p.m.
on 24.11.1996 to his house where the deceased was done away
with, the burden shifted on the first accused to show how the
de~ased died In his house. In our opinion, this la not the correct
position of law. In f?rder to hold this circumatar,ce, the High Court. .G
. -,.· · has recorded the finding that the house belonged to the present
appellant. The appellaiit hact very clearly stated In his examination
under Section 313 Cr.P.C. that the house did not belong to his
father and that it was lying vacant and nobody had occupied it.
In our opinion, atleast from the evidence on record, it cannot be H
238 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 1 S.C. R.

..
A· concluded that tHe house belonged to the a·ppellant. There is.ho
· evidence worth the nahie feiad by the prosecution to suggest
the exclusive ownership or the possession of the house belonged
to the appellant. B.oth the courts have proceeded on the
presumption that the house was owned or possessed exclusively
-B by the·appellant. Much could have been done to establish its
ownership by filing the revenue record of that house. No such
documentary evidence was collected by the prosecution. The t-
High court has not _qiscLJssed this aspect of exclusive ownership
and poss~ssion at all~and has proceeded on the presumption
by
c tHat tbe hou~e belopg.~d'to f;lnd was possessed th!=! a_ppella,nt
herein. ·. · · . . _ c • •

17. The Panch witness P.W.6- Ganesan, though had
referred to the said house as the house of' the appellant, has
clearly admitted in his cross-examination that he did not know
D as to in whose name stood the said house. It is very significant
to note that he has lastly given the admission to the effect "to
say that (blood stained) that house is not Mani's house
and it was built by Mani's father, cannot be objected". This
witness was a Village Administrative Officer through whom the
E investigating officer could have easily obtaineci the records of
this house. Unfortunately, that was not done.' '

18. The only other evidence in this .behalf is that of F?W· 14
Karunakaran who was_ one of the Investigating Officer. He hcts
never asserted that the concerned house \l\(CI$ appellant's house --t -
F though he, in his examlnation-in-chief refer~ed to that house as
Mani's house. He had to admit in his cross examination that he
'did not interrogate any other resid~nts residing near
Andiammal's house.'He also had admitted that he had never
questioned the Village Administrative Officer as to in whos_e
G n~me was the said house. Though this witness coll)mOf1ly
referred to that house·as Mani's house. it is difficult to l;iold that
the prosecution had establi_shed the exclusive ownf?rship and
possession of that hquse as against the appellant..
19 The High Court has undoubtedly referred to the written
MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU~:"
[SIRPURKAR, J]

·.. statement.Ji led by the,,accused under Section 313 Cr~P.C. out ·A
. has chosen,not:to:discuss the matter further. It is ther'E!fore difficult
-to hold that the said house where allegedly thehfood stalnswere
found belonged to the appellant. · · •· .- · ·
' ' . 20. Same and similar is the story rega.rding the alleged
· discovery. Both the vyitnesses namely'P.W: 8 Pilip Kumar and· B
· P.VV.~ Loganath}1r;i t)aq turned. hostil~. Th~y c,om.pl13t~ly
disowhe.cfthe'ptoseci..Jtion case that the appellant was examined
by th.e. Inspect,bri3ijp.qurirg',that ex~·m0~fio.Q . ',¥~n'i ~as enq'0ired
and he' g~v,~ ~bnfessi.~r1al:statem~,~.t.~nd tl;l,~J .he would, 1s~ow C
the'hidden clothes which he worn at theti01e of the incident and
.also ttie k6ciuva1 which was"ui~cf ~t ih~:Hme of the incici~nt.
·they only ad::~pted that' they. had signe.d.lhe said statement.
Now·, wtienwe consider the evidence regartjing the discoyery,
a V~rY iit,iportant circumstance was missed by both the,~r)al.Cq,~rt ,.. .
. as well as oy the High 'Court about the place where the articles '·D ·
·were found. P.Vv. 15 Govindan who was the Investigating Officer
in respect of th.is discovery deposed that the accused Mani had
made. vplun.a,.Y confess,io'n' statement which he had recorded in
· presen.ce of the two witnessE!i;.namelyP,W. 8- Dilip KJmar and
'l.\5ganf!th~r(VVe are aJ.re~dy $een that 'both the witnesse.s had E
complet~ly_disowned the stouts There.is no cross examination
worth t~e ~,ame to these wiJne~sE!S py the pyblic prosecutor.
Both these. witnesses were .chance witn.essep, they being the
regular visitors to the police 'station,. and it appears that they
Were rrierely used by the investigating agency. In fact there is ;-:·
. no' explanation on hbw Jhese two witness.es reached +fie police
station at all. P.W. 15 'Govinda·n did assert that. he recovered
:~rie bl'o6d stained rose colour'full sleeve sh.irt blood stained
. greer coloure'd sW,eater, blo.od stained lµngl h~~lrig '.]'28n red
and black..stripes and,qne)lood
.!.· . '· - - ', ,J.-J_
stain13cl
,,
kociuval
''••' •.
;,J'.h
•
human u"
hair produced by the accused at 11.30 a m. near :he sloppy
. rock on !he way to Chinnammal Coffee Estate in Salaipara
village. Accordingly, the witness asserts th at he r.ecovered M. Os
15, 16, 17 and 18 under ExhibiFP:26 Mahazar. Now.
, unfortunately, the High Court has missed a very important of f'i
240 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 1 S,C.R.

A evidence in his cross examination where the witness very
specifical.ly admitted that the material objects said to have been
produced by Accused No. 1 and Accused No. 2 were recovered
about 300 feet away from the dead body of Sivakumar. Now, it
is nobody's case that at the time the discovery was made by
e accused no. 1, accused no. 2 also made certain discoveries.
Therefore, the witness was not certain as to who made the
discovery. This is apart from the fact that discovery admittedly ·
was made from 300 feet away from the dead body .of Sivakumar
and after Sivakumar's body was inspected by P.W.14 as early
c as on 25.11.1996. It would be impossible to believe that the .
inspector did not search the nearby Spots and that all the articles
would remain in open unguarded till 6th December, 1996 when
the discovery had allegedly been made. This was nothing but a
farce of discovery and could never have been accepted .
0 particularly because all the discovered articles w~re lying bare·
. open barely 300 feet away from the body of ttie deceased
Sivakumar. Even this witness had to admit that he never enquired
as to in whose name the house of Mani stand. He claims that
P.W.14.had.done the same whereas P.W.14 is completely silent
E about such investigation. It is, therefore, obvious this discovery
could have never been accepted by both the courts below &
both the court have completely ignored this vital admission. It
need not be stated that where the discovery of the relevant articles
have been made from the open ground though under the bush,
that too after more than 1Odays of the Incident, such discovery
F would be without any credence. It does not stand to any reasons
that the concerned Investigating officer did not even bother to
look hither and thither when the dead body was found. We are,
therefore, not prepared to accept such kind of farcical discovery
which has been relied by the courts below without even taking
G Into consideration the vital facts which we have shown above.
21. The discovery Is a weak kind of evidence and cannot
be wholly relied upon on and conviction In such a serious matter
cannot be based upon the discovery. Once the discovery fall•,
'H there would be llterally nothing which would 1upport the
MANI v. STATE OF TAMIL NADU 241
[SIRPURKAR, J.]

-i prosecution case. We have already held that the prosecution A
has failed to prove that the house where alleged blood stains
were found belonged exclusively or was possessed exclusively
by the appellant, we have further pointed out that the discovery
was absolutely farcical. The.re is one other very relevant factor
ignored by both the courts that the prosecution never made any B
attempts to prove that the Clothes belonged to the appellants.
There is literally no evidence to suggest anything to that effect.
• -./ Therefore, even if we accept the discovery, it does not take us
anywhere near the crime. Both the Courts below have ignored
this. very important\
aspect. Once these two important c
circumstances are disbelieved, th.ere is nothing which would
remain to support the prosecution theory. We also fail to
understand the finding of the High Court in respect of the motive.
In ou'r opinion, there was no motive whatsoever much less
entertainable by the pcesent appellant. He had nothing to do D
with the straying cattle nor was he a party to subsequent
altercation between P.W.1 Arunachalam and the accused No. 2
+ Moyyasamy.. Lastly, there.is nothing on record to show that he
was a henchman set up to take revenge by accused no. 2
Moyyasamy and he was set up by the accused no. 1 to revenge.
E
We also did not understand that if there was no motive for
Moyyasamy, how could there be any motive entertainable by
the appellant. Therefore, even for that circumstance has to go.
22. Even if we accept that the Koduval and the alleged
. ~ clothes, i.e. the material object nos. 15-18 had the blood stains F
that does not connect the appellant with the crime.
23. The only other circumstance left with is that Mani called
Sivakumar at 6 O'clock and took him away in the absence of
any ot~er clinching circumstances, this circumstance by itself
cannot lead to the only conclusion that Mani murdered Sivakumar. G
-.., Therefore, we have to ignore that circumstance.
24. Lastly, the Trial Court has obviously committed an error
in suggesting that the appellant was absconding and that he
was surrendered before the Court on 06.12.1996. It is H
242 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2008] 1 S.C.R.

A mentioned in sub- para 6 of the judgment of the Trial Court of
para 28. We are afraid this is a factual mistake because it has
come in the ~vidence of the prosecution witnesses that the
accused had surrendered before the Magistrate much earlier
to that, i.e. on the very next day or so and that it took the
B investigating officer almost 10 days to obtain his custody. That
has clearly come in the evidence of P.W. 14.
25. We are also not impressed by the evidence of P.W.1
Arunachalam who had though found the corpse at night or atleast
had realized that something unusual had happened, did not
C bother to go till next day at 10 O'clock for reporting the matter.
We cannot ignore the evidence of P.W.5 Chinamal in whose
field the body was found. She had specifically claimed that this
fact was known to P.W. 1 Arunachalam. Having seen all the
evidence and having considered both the judgments very
D carefully, we are of the clear opinion that this cannot be a case
where the prosecution has proved the guilt of the accused
beyond reasonable doubts. We would th3refore accept the plea i
of the accused raised by the defence counsel that this is clearly
a case for benetit cf doubt. We would therefore choose to grant
E the benefit of doubt to the accused holding that the prosecution
has not been able to prove its case beyond the reasonable
doubt. We therefore, allow the appeal. Accordingly the appeal
is allowed. Impugned Judgments and conviction are set aside.
The accused be set to liberty forthwith unless required in
F any other case.
K.K.T. Appeal allowed.