AIROnline 2025 SC 394

Supreme Court Of India

(From : AIROnline 2019 Mad 324)

Hon'ble Judge(s): Abhay S. Oka, Ujjal Bhuyan , JJ

(A) Penal Code (45 of 1860) , S.302, S.307, S.149— Evidence Act (1 of 1872) , S.3— Murder - Testimony of informant - Reliability - Informant deposed that he had seen alleged occurrence of murder while hiding behind bush - Incident took place after 09:30 pm - Informant had not stated distance between bush in which he was hiding and spot of incident - There was a serious doubt whether he could have seen incident in light of car - Though DSP and other Police Officers met informant at scene of offence, they did not record his statement - Informant along with an advocate and political party members had gone to police station and handed over a written complaint - There was a political rivalry between him and wife of accused - Names of 15 accused persons were dropped with consent of informant - Reason given in report for deletion was that informant was nervous and therefore exaggerated incident by naming said accused - It was obvious that informant was unsure about number of accused who were present at time of incident - Informant seemed to have exaggerated incident due to political rivalry - Possibility of filing complaint after deliberation with supporters of political party could not be ruled out - Evidence of informant was not credible. (Para 29) (B) ....