iminal Appeals NO 158 and 197 of 1968
Appeals by certificatespecial leave from the judgment and order dated November 3 1967 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Criminal Appeal No 602 of 1967 and Murder Refer ence No 45 of 1967
JP Mitter J C Talwar and R L Kohli for the appellant in both the appeals
Kartar Singh Chawla and R N Sachthey for the respondent in both the appeals
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Ramaswaini J
The appellant Piara Singh and one Nand Lal Sehgal were tried together by the Sessions Judge of Kapurthala who by his judgment dated 1st July 1967 convicted the appellant under section 302 IPC and sentenced him to death
The appellant was also Convicted and sentenced to 5 years  rigorous imprisonment under section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act and to 5 years  rigorous imprisonment under section 326 of the Indian Penal Code
Nand Lal Sehgal was sentenced to life imprisonment under section 302 read with sections 109 and 113 IPC and to 5 years  rigorous imprisonment under section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act
Both the convicted persons filed appeals in the
Punjab and Haryana High Court viz Criminal Appeal No 602 of 1967 and 601 of 1967
The State of Punjab also filed a criminal revision No 1006 1967 for enhancement
of sentence of Nand Lal Sehgal
By a of common judgment dated 3rd November 1967 the High Court dismissed the appeal of the appellant and confirmed the sentence of death imposed upon him
The High Court however acquitted Nand Lal Sehgal by allowing his appeal and dismissed the revision petition filed by the State of Punjab
These are two appeals one by certificate and the other by special leave on behalf of the appellant Piara Singh against the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated 3rd November 1967
The case of the prosecution was that one Ram Sahai PW 19 who was the organising Secretary of Jagatjit Kapra Mills
Mazdoor Union Phagwara had proceeded on hunger strike from 1st October 1966 in front of the gate of the Jagatjit Textile Mills Phagwara hereinafter called the Mills in order to compel the management to accept certain demands of that Union regarding dearness allowance gratuity
for re employment of the labourers who had been turns out of service and the like
The hunger strike of Ram Sahai was supposed to last till death or the acceptance of the 238 demands by the Mills whichever was earlier
A tent had been fixed outside the gate of the Mills and Ram Sahai used to sit on a cot under the tent
On 4th October 1966 at 145 pm Ram Labhaya Postman PW 31 came there with a registered parcel addressed to Ram Sahai
On the parcel being opened a bomb inside it exploded as a result of which Radhey Sham Shadi Lal and Charanjit Lal died and PW 1 1 Chanan Singh P W 14 Moti Lal PW 16 Madhu Parshad PW 17 Tara Singh PW 18 Ram Dass PW 20 Muni Lal and PW 21 Naunihal Singh received injuries
It is alleged for the prosecution that tile parcel had been despatched by the appellant from Amritsar at the instance of Nand Lal Sehgal and that the approver Mohinder Singh had helped the appellant in preparing the parcel containing the bomb
The first clue in connection with the crime was obtained by the police on 8th October 1966 when at about 400 pm PW 25 Amrik Singh a resident of Amritsar appeared before Sub Inspector Mohinderpal Singh
PW 59 and made a statement that he had known Piara Singh before and was friendly with him that on 3rd October 1966 Piara Singh who was carrying a Jhola which appeared to contain something bulky met him and
in response to an invitation for tea told Amrik Singh that he was in a hurry to go for some work
Three or four days later Amrik Singh read in a newspaper regarding explosion of a bomb near the Textile Mills Phagwara On the 7th October 1966 Sri Niwas PW 27 who  is a deed writer met him and told him that Piara Singh had despatched a parcel from Amritsar
The most important witness in the case is Mohinder Singh PW 8 who was tendered pardon under section 337 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the District Magistrate Kapurthala
The evidence of approver is to the effect that he was working in the Mills since 1951 and three or four years later Piara Singh also joined service in that Mills and was working as his subordinate
Piara Singh developed cordial relations with Nand Lal Sehgal and used to assist him in breaking up labour strikes
One and a half months before the occurrence Piara Singh came to the approver s residence and told him that Sehgal wanted one Ram Singh who Was employed in the Textile Mills
Ganga Nagar to be killed Piara Singh suggested the device of sending a bomb in a parcel to the victim and when the parcel would be opened the bomb would explode
About 15 days before the incident Piara Singh again came to the approver and told him that he had secured a bomb and he wanted to get prepared two wooden boxes one smaller in size
than the other
The approver and Piara Singh thereafter went to the shop of Nazar Singh PW22 a carpenter of Phagwara who made the box
Later in the evening they went to of Gian Singh PW 23 a carpenter of village Chachokiwhich is said to be half a mile from Phagwara
Piara Singh got prepared 239 from him six pieces of phaties of raw wood
After it had become dark Piara Singh brought to the approvers house these articles as also a bomb saying that he had removed the fuse of the bomb so that if it should fall it may not explode
On 2nd October 1966 Piara Singh came to the approver s house at 10 pm
and informed him of Sehgal s intention that the bomb should now be sent so as to explode at Ram Sahai who was the leader of the strikers at Phagwara
Piara Singh thereafter prepared a wooden box from the six pieces  of phaties
The approver described the arrange ment for packing the bomb as follows Placing the fuse in the bomb after removing the pin and placing a wire in its place we placed it in that box
Then the box was closed and the lid was placed on it with Kabza and Kundi
In that Kundi a nut was placed and a bolt was fitted in it so that the box may not open
Then the box was also tied with strings so that the Phaties may not give way on account of the pressure of the lever
Then from the hole which was on one side of the box corresponding to the wire fitted in the bomb the wire was pulled out
Then that wooden box was placed in the bigger box
Piara Singh accused had brought with him a piece of Khaddar cloth and a parcel was made of the bigger box in that cloth
The pieces of Khaddar which were spare placed in between the two boxes so that the smaller box may not move inside the bigger box
Because of the spare pieces of cloth were not sufficient so I gave two shirts of my children to Piara Singh
Those shirts were of Poplin of blue colour
Piara Singh tore one shirt into pieces and placed those pieces also in between those boxes
Before the parcel was prepared in the Khaddar cloth the bigger box was secured with nails
 At about 1 am the approver and Piara Singh went to the house of Sehgal and explained to him how they had prepared the parcel
Piara Singh told Sehgal that when Ram Sahai would open the parcel the bomb would explode and he would die
made over a sheet of paper to Piara Singh on which was written the address of Ram Sahai
Sehgal also gave Rs 40 to Piara Singh for expenses and instructed him that the parcel had to
be sent through the Post Office at Amritsar
Next day on 3rd October 1966 Piara Singh came to the approver in the morning carrying a Jhola in which he placed the parcel containing the wooden box
The approver took Nara Singh to the Railway Station Phagwara
In the evening Piara Singh returned at about 6 pm and told the approver that he had got the parcel despatched as directed by Sehgal from Am where he a so met Amrik Singh
Both of them then went to the house of Sehgal and 240 Piara Singh banded over the registration receipt to him saying that it should be destroyed
At about 2 pm on the next day ie 4th October 1966 the approver learnt about the explosion of the bomb The High Court considered that the statement of the approver Was sufficiently corroborated by the evidence of Nazar Singh PW 22 Gian Singh PW 23 Sardara Singh PW 24 Amrik Singh PW 25 and Sri Niwas PS 27 so far as the appellant was Concerned
The High Court accordingly held that charges under Ss 302 and 326 IPC and section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act were established against the appellant
As regards Nand Lal Sehgal the High Court took the view that there was no independent corroboration of the approver s evidence which could reasonably lead to the inference that Sehgal was instrumental in the commission of the crime
The High Court therefore acquitted Nand Lal Sehgal
In support of his appeal Mr Mitter contended in the first place that by reason of the acquittal of Nand Lal Sehgal the evidence given in the case concerning Nand Lal Sehgal must be totally rejected
It was contended that the evidence of the approver so far as it concerns Nand Lal Sehgal must be eliminated
In other words the argument was that the effect of acquittal of Nand Lal Sehgal was to weaken if not to destroy the approver s evidence so far as it concerns the appellant also In this connection Mr Mitter relied upon the principle of issue estoppel and referred to the decision of the Judicial Committee in Sambasivam vs Public Prosecutor Federation of Malaya1 and the decision of this Court in Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab2 and Manipur Administration vs Thokchom Bira Singh
In our opinion there is no justification for this argument
It is true that Nand Lal Sehgal was acquitted by the High Court which took the view that the evidence of the approver was not corroborated so far as Nand Lal Sehgal was concerned
But there is no finding of the High Court that the approver had implicated Nand Lal
Sehgal falsely
The High Court considered that there was no legal corroboration of the approver s evidence as regards Nand Lal Sehgal and in the absence of such corroboration it was not safe to upheld the conviction of Sehgal
That is a different thing from saying that the Court found that the approver s evidence regarding the participation of Nand Lal Sehgal is false
In any event the principle of issue estoppel has no application to the present case
It should be stated that the principle  of issue estoppel is different from the principle of double jeopardy or autre fois acquit as embodied in section 403 of the Criminal Procedure Code
The prin 1 1950 AC458
2 A 3  241 ciple of issue estoppel is a different principle viz where an issue of fact has been tried by a competent court on a former occasion and a finding has been reached in favour of an accused such a finding would constitute an estoppel or res judicata against the prosecution not as a bar to the trial and conviction of the accused for a different or distinct offence but as precluding the reception of evidence to disturb that finding of fact when the accuses is tried subsequently even for a different offence which might be permitted by the terms of section 4032 Cr
PC Speaking on the principle of estoppel Dixon J said in King vs Wilkes1 Whilst there is not a great deal of authority upon the subject it appears to me that there is nothing wrong in the view that there is an issue estoppel it it appears by record of itself of as explained by proper evidence that the same point was determined in favour of a prisoner in a previous criminal trial which is brought in view on a second criminal trial of the same
prisoner
that seems to be implied in the language used by Wright J in R vs Ollis which in effect I have adopted in the foregoing statement
There must be a prior proceeding determined against the Crown necessarily involving an issue which again arises in a subsequent proceeding by the Crown against the same prisoner
The allegation of the Crown in the subsequent proceeding must itself be inconsistent with the acquittal of the prisoner in the previous proceeding
But if such a condition of affairs arises I see no reason why the ordinary rules of issue estoppel should not apply
Such rules are not to be confused with those of res judicata which in criminal proceedings are expressed in the pleas of autre fois acquit and autre fois convict
They are pleas which are concerned with
the judicial determination of an alleged criminal liability and in the case of conviction with the substitution of a new liability
Issue estoppel is concerned
with the judicial establishment of a proposition of law or fact between parties
It depends upon
well known doctrines which control the reltigation of issues which are settled by prior litigation
 In a subsequent case Marz vs The Queen2 Dixon CJ stated as follows  The law which gives effect to issue estoppels is not concerned with the correctness or incorrectness of the finding Which amounts to an estoppel still less with the processes of reasoning by which the finding was reached in fact 
It is enough that an issue or issues 1  a pp 518 519
2  242 have been directly raised and found
Once that is I done then so long as the finding stands if there by any subsequent litigation between the same parties no allegations legally inconsistent with the finding may be made by one of them against the other Res judicate pro veritate accipitur
And  this applies in pleas of the Crown
 Again in Brown vs Robinson1 Herron and Maguire JJ said Before issue estoppel can succeed in a case such as this there must be prior proceeding determined against the Crown necessarily involving an issue which again arises in a subsequent proceeding by the Crown against the same prisoner 
It depends upon an issue or issues having been distinctly raised and found in the former proceeding
The principle of issue estoppel has received the approval of this Court in Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab 2 and Manipur Administration vs Thokchom Bira Singh 3 and several later decisions
But the principle cannot be invoked in the present case because the parties are different and the decision upon any issue as between State and Nand Lal Sehgal in the same litigation cannot operate as binding upon the State with regard to present  appellant
For issue estoppel to arise there must have been distinctly raised and inevitably decided the same issue in the earlier proceedings between the same parties  In our opinion mr Mitter is unable to make good his argument on this aspect of the case
It was then contended on behalf of the appellant that there was no corroboration of the approver s evidence so far as he was concerned
An accomplice is undoubtedly a competent witness under the Indian Evidence Act
There can be however no doubt that the very fact that he has participated in the commission of the offence introduces a serious taint in his evidence and Courts are naturally reluctant to act on such tainted evidence unless it is corroborated in material particulars by other independent evidence
It would not however be right to expect that such independent corroboration should cover the whole of the prosecution case or even all the material particulars of the prosecution case
If such a view is adopted it will render the evidence of the accomplice wholy superfluous
On the other hand it will not be safe to act upon such evidence merely because it is corroborated in minor particulars or incidental details because in such a case corroboration does not afford the necessary assurance that the 1 1960 SRNSW297301
2 AIR 1956 SC 415
3 19647 SCR 123
243 main story disclosed by the approver can be reasonably and safely accepted as true 
It is well settled that the appreciation of approver s evidence has to satisfy a double test
His evidence must show that he is reliable witness and that is a test which is common to all the witnesses
If this test is satisfied the second test which still remain to be applied is that the approver s  evidence must receive sufficient corroboration
See Sarwan Singh vs State of Punjab 1
In the present case the High Court has rightly applied this principle and reached the conclusion that the approver s evidence was materially corroborated so far as the appellant was concerned
In the first place the approver said that while going from his house when he fled from Phagwara he had thrown the remaining pieces of the shirt in a cluster of sarkandas
As a result of search ASI Pritam Singh recovered torn pieces of cloth Exs
P9 11 to P 9 3 from a bush about 150 yards from the Mill
The testimony of the expert Mr Longia PW 7 shows that Exs
P 91 to P 93 were parts of the same cloth as pieces Exs
P 101 to P 103 which were used for Dacking the bomb between the inner and the outer boxes
If the approver was not a participant to the packing of the hand grenade he could not possibly be in possession of the pieces
of cloth Exs
P 91 to P 93
In the second place the evidence of Nazar Singh PW 22 indicates that he made the outer box for Piara Singh and was paid Re 1 by him
Gian Singh PW 23 also said that he had been asked by Piara Singh to make Phaties about 4 in length for the preparation of the box
Amrik Singh PW 23 has also given corroborative evidence
Piara Singh had met him at Amritsar on 3rd October 1966 and told him that Piara Singh had despatched the parcel
The testimony of Sri Niwas PW 27 is crucial in this case
He has corroborated the statement of the approver
in important particulars
The evidence of Sri Niwas was criticised on behalf of the appellantas Sri Niwas made his statement to the police after some delay viz on the 17th October 1966
On this point Sub Inspector Mohinderpal Singh explained that earlier on 9th October 1966 he tried to contact Sri Niwas but the latter was not found in his seat in Phagwara Chowk
He made another effort to trace him on 13th October 1966 but it was equally fruitless
It is true that the Sub Inspector could have made more strenuous efforts to trace out Sri Niwas but he was going to other places also in connection with the investigation
The High Court has held that merely on account of this delay the statement of Sri Niwas could not be rejected
On the contrary the High Court has found the evidence of Sri Niwas to be true and reliable
It is manifest that there is sufficient corroboration of the evidence of the approver so far as the appellant is concerned and the argument of Mr Mitter must be rejected on this aspect of the case
1  244 Lastly it was contended that the hand grenade could not be arranged in the manner stated by the approver but that the hand grenade was intact and when the parcel was opened some one may have caused it to explode
In this connection Mr Mitter referred to the evidence of expert Mr Murti PW 6
According to Mohinder Singh only one hole was made in the inner box through which the wire fitted in the grenade in place of the safety pin was taken out
The argument of the appellant was thattwo holes should have been made in the inner box but according to the approver only one hole Was made
It was also said that according to the report of the expert bent steel wire was found in the first parcel which was sent to him
It was argued that the report of the expert was not consistent with the evidence of the approver who said that the safety pin of the wire had been removed
It was suggested that Mohinder Singh would have probably thrown the safety pin and not kept it in the box
The High Court has examined in detail the argument of the appellant on this point and reached the conclusion that the statement of the approver with regard to the packing of the hand grenade should be accepted as true
The question involved is one of appreciation of evidence and not a question of law
In any event we see no sufficient reason for taking a view different from that of the High Court in this matter
For these reasons we hold that there is no merit in these appeals which are accordingly dismissed
YP Appeals dismissed


Summary:
The appellant and S were charged for an offence under section 302 IPC and under the Explosive Substances Act
The prosecution relied upon the evidence of the approver
The approver s statement was corroborated a by the recovery of a piece of cloth which was part of the same cloth used in the clime b by the evidence of that the box was made for the appellant and c by the evidence regarding despatch of the parcel by the appellant
The Sessions Judge convicted the appellant and S against which both appealed
The conviction of the appellant was upheld by the High Court as it considered that the statement of the approver was corroborated by the evidence of other witnesses so far theappellant was concerned
But the High Court acquitted S being of the view that there was no independent corroboration of the approver s evidence which lead to the inference that S was instrumental in the commission of the crime
In appeal to this Court the appellant contended that i the affect of acquittal of S was to weaken if not to destroy the approver s evidence so far as it concerned the appellant relying on the principles of issue estoppel and ii there was no corroboration of the approver s evidence so far as the appellant was concerned
Dismissing the appeal HELD  i For the principle of issue estoppel to arise there must have been distinctly raised and inevitably decided the same issue in the earlier proceedings between the same parties
But the principle cannot be invoked in the present case because the parties are different and the decision upon any issue as between State and S in the same litigation cannot operate as binding upon the State with regard to the present appellant
242 D E Pritam Singh vs State of Punjab AIR 1956 SC 415
and Manipur Administration vs Thokchom Bira Singh   followed
Sambasivam vs Public Prosecutor Federation of Malaya  King vs Wilkes  at pp
518 519 Marz vs The Queen   Again in Brown v Robinson  301 applied
iiThe application of approver s evidence has to satisfy a double test
His evidence must show that he is a reliable witness and that is a test which is common to all the witnesses
If this test is satisfied the second test which still remains to be applied is that the approver s evidence must receive sufficient corroboration
It would not however be right to expect that such independent corroboration should cover the whole of the prosecution case
In the present case the High Court had rightly applied this Principle and reached the conclusion that the approver s evidence was materially corroborated so far as the appellant was concerned
243 A C 237 Sarwan Singh vs State of Punjab   followed