Holding

A charge under Section 201 IPC cannot be framed on the sole basis of the accused's car being washed, as there was no evidential material establishing disappearance of evidence.

Summary

The appellant, Mohan Singh, was accused of causing the disappearance of evidence under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code after a murder was committed on 4 March 1978. The prosecution alleged that his car, used to transport the victim's body, was washed on 8 March 1978, and on that basis the Sessions Judge framed a charge under Section 201. The High Court refused to set aside the charge. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that there was no material evidence linking the appellant to the alleged tampering; the mere act of washing the car could not constitute prima facie evidence of the offence. The Court found the charge illegal, quashed it, and set aside the Sessions Judge’s order.

Issues considered

Whether the mere washing of a vehicle, without any corroborative evidence, is sufficient material to frame a charge under Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code for causing disappearance of evidence.
Whether a charge can be framed under Section 201 IPC in the absence of any evidential link between the accused and the alleged disappearance of evidence.

Legislation cited

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973s. 227, s. 228, s. 482
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 201

Subjects

Section 201 IPCdisappearance of evidencecharge framingevidentiary materialcriminal procedurequashappealcar washingmurderevidence tampering

Judgment

A MOHAN SINGH
v. f

STATE OF RAJASTHAN
July 30, 1979
JI [R. S. SARKARIA AND V. D. TULZAPURKAR, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860 (Act 45), Section 201-Causing disappearance of eviw
dence of offence to screen offender legal punishment-Absence of legal eviw '-
dence or any material on the record of the factual ingredients of an offence
under Section 201 l.P.C. entitled the discharge of the accused under Section
227 Cr/. P.C. therefore the charge framed as per Section 228 Cr/. P.C. 1973
c is illegal.

On the allegations that one Padam Singh was shot dead in the farm of the
appellant by Doongar Singh and two others on 4-3-1978, that the appellant'&
car No. R.J.F. 2118 was made us'e of in carrying the dead body to be· thrown
into a well on the boundMy of village Ramasani by Doongar Singh Who latter
brought the car back on the same day to the appellant's bungalow where it
D was washed the same day and thereafter the appellant got his car washed on
8-3-1978 at the Petrot Pump of one Umrwkhan, the Sessions Judge framed
a charge against the appellant of an offence under Section 201, Penal Code
merely on the ground that there was material to show thaJt the appellant got
his car washed on 8-3-1978 at a petrol pump. The High Court refused t<>
set aside the said order in revision under Section 482 Crl. P.C. 1973.

E Allowing the app'eal by ipecial leave, the Court,
~--·
HELD : 1. Th'e impugned order of Sessions Judge being based on no
evidential material whatever was manifestly illegal. [150A]

(a) The mere washing of the car on 8th March could not be printa facie
evidence of the factual ingredients of an offence und'er Section 201, PenaiJ:
F Code. (150A] ' i

(b) lbe presence of blood stains on the car on the 8th March stood·
negatived by the Prosecution's own assertion (in the Police Challan) that
Doongar' Singh had got the blood on the car washed on the day of the murder~
itself, and [194G-H]
G
(c) there was nothing in the statements of the Petrol Pump de~l'er ind
his servant that there was any blood on the car which was washed. There
was not an iota of material on the record to furnish basis even for a grave
suspicion that by getting the car washed on the 8th March, 1978, the appellant
caused any blood or other evidence concerning the murder of Padam Singh te>
disappear. [149F-GJ
B
C'RIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Criminal Appeal No. 363
of 1979.
(148)
MOHAN SINGH v. RAJASTHAN (Sarkaria, J.) 149

•
•Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order dated .A
28~3-.1979 of the Rajasthan High Court in S.B. Cr!. Misc. Application
.>
No; 128/78 .
Ram Jethmalani and N. H. Hingorani for the Appellant.
·Badridas Sharma for the Respondent. B
The Order of the Court was delivered by

SARKARIA, J. This appeal by special leave is div"cted against an
order, dated March 28, 1979, whereby the High Court of Rajasthan
dismissed the· appellant's application under Section 482, Criminal
Procedure Code and r~fused to set aside an Order dated August 14, c
1978 of the Sessions Judge framing a charge under Section 201, Penal
Code against the appellant.
The pros·"cution case as put in Court is that on March 4, 1978,
one Padam Singh was shot dead at the farm of the appellant by the
accused, Doongar Singh, in conspiracy with the accused, Hanif ahd D
Shambhoo Singh. Padam Singh's deadbody was first put in a jeep
for removaL After going some distance the jeep went out of order.
Thereafter, Doongar Singh brought the car of the appellant. The
deadbody was then transhipped into the car (RJF 2118) and was
taken to a distance and thrown into a lonely well on the boundary of
village, Ramasani. Doongar Singh then brought the car back to E
Mohan Singh's bungalow where it was washed [vide the Police report
of A.S.P. City (West) Jodhpur]. It i~ not alleged that the appel-
lant was in any manll'~r concerned as an abettor or accomplice in The
murder or participated or abetted the removal and disposal of the
deadbody of Padam Si'ngh. The only allegation on the basis of
which a charge under Section 201, Indian Penal Code has been framed
F
against the appellant is that on March 8, 1978, that is, five days
·after the murder of Padam Singh, he got his car washed at the Petrol
Pump of one Umrao Khan. In this connection, the investigating
Police Officer examined Sardar Kha'n sou of Umrao Khan, Petrol
f
Pump dealer and his servant, Mangilal. There is nothing in their
• statements that there was any blood on the car which was washed.
G
There was not an iota of material on the record to furnish basis even
for a grave suspicion that by getting the car washed on the 8th March,
1978, the appellant caused any blood or other evidence concerning
the murder of Padam Singh, to disappear. The pres·~nce of blood-
stains on the car on the 8th March stood negatived by the prosecution's H
own assertion (in the police challan) that Doongar Singh had got the
1'lood on the car washed on th2 day of the murder, itself. The mere
150 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [ 1980J 1 S.C.R.
•
,A washing of the car on the 8th March could not, by any stretch of
imagination, be prima facie evidence of the factual ingredients of.. an
offence under Section 201, Pe"nal Code. The impugned order of the
Sessions Judge being based on no evidential material, whatever, was
manifestly illegal. We, thernfore, allow this appeal, set aside the
impugned Order and quash the charge framed against the appellant.
,ti

S.R. Appeal allowed.

••