KHEKH RAM versus STATE OF H.P.
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 956, Supreme Court of India, 2017
Outcome: Appeal(s) allowed (Granted)
Segment: Facts
A 
B 
[2017] l l S.C.R. 956 
KHEKH RAM 
v. 
STATE OF H.P. 
(Criminal Appeal No. 1110 of2016) 
NOVEMBER 10, 2017 
[N. V. RAMANA AND AMITAVA ROY, JJ.] 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 -
Chapter IV - ss.20, 29 - In the wee hours of 20.10.2009 a police 
C 
patrol party noticed a vehicle moving towards them - On seeing the 
patrol party, the driver escaped and could not be apprehended -
During the search of the vehicle, contraband charas was found -
Appellant's bank passbook also found in the vehicle- Jn report u/s. 
173 Cr.P. C., the driver of the vehicle who fled was referred to as the 
appellant - Appellant arrested - Trial court acquitted the appellant 
D - High Court in appeal reversed the said acquittal - On appeal, 
E 
F 
· held: identification of the appellant to be the driver who absconded 
on seeing the patrol party is sine qua non for the proof of the charge 
leveled against him - However, on facts, the testimony of PW-I and 
PW-8 taken together by itself does not unimpeachably establish the 
identity of the driver of the vehicle to be appellant - Further, there 
was no test identification parade - Appellant was implicated in the 
offence due to the recovery of his bank passbook from the vehicle, 
however, in absence of any other cogent, coherent and clinching 
evidence of his identification as the driver of the car carrying the 
contraband, this document cannot be acted in isolation to be the 
basis of his conviction - Prosecution has failed to
adduce conclusive 
and consistent evidence to bring home the charge against the 
appellant - With regard to the issue of identification, the view of 
trial court was overwhelmingly reasonable - Impugned judgment 
set aside and the acquittal of the appellant is restored - Appellant 
G be released from custody if not required in connection with any 
other case - Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s.173. 
H 
Criminal Trial - Standard of proof - Held: In a criminal trial 
suspicion however grave cannot take the place of proof -
Prosecution to succeed has to prove its case and establish the charge 
by adducing convincing evidence to ward off any reasonable doubt 
956
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
957 
about the complicity of the accused - Prosecution case has' to be in 
A 
the category of "must be true" and not "may be true". 
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s.378 -Appellate power 
of High Court - Discussed. 
Allowing the appeal, the Court 
HELD: 1.1 An order of acquittal, if appealed against, ought 
not to be lightly interfered with, it is trite as well that the Appellate 
Court is fully empowered to review, re-appreciate and reconsider 
B 
the evidence on record and to reach its own conclusions both on 
questions of fact and on law. As a corollary, the Appellate Court 
would be within its jurisdiction and authority to dislodge an C 
acquittal on sound, cogent and persuasive reasons based on. the 
recorded facts and the law applicable. If only when the view taken 
by the Trial Court in ordering acquittal is an equally plausible 
. and reasonable one. that the Appellate Court would not readily 
· · substitute the same by another view available to it, on its D 
independent appraisal of the materials on record. This legally 
acknowledged restraint on the power of the Appellate Court 
would get attracted only if the two views are equally plausible 
and reasonable and not otherwise: If the view taken by the Trial 
Court is a possible but not a reasonable one when tested on the 
evidence on record and the legal principles applied, E 
unquestionably it can and ought to be displaced by a plausible 
· and reasonable view by the Appellate Court
in furtherance of the 
uUimate cause of justice. Though no innocent ought to be 
punished, it is equally imperative that a guilty ought not to be let 
of casually lest justice is a casualty. [Para 15] [972-C~F] 
F 
1.2 Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic 
Substances Act, 1985 under which the appellant had been charged 
prescribes for punishment for contravention in relation to cannabis 
plant and cannabis. Section 29 of the Act ordains the punishment 
for abetment of and criminal conspiracy for commission of an G 
offence punishable under Chapter IV. The gravamen of the charge 
against the appellant is possessfon and transportation of charas 
as punishable under the above provisions. Thus, for the appellant 
to be guilty of the offence with which he had been charged, he 
must be proved to be in. conscious possession of the contraband 
H
958 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 
A seized. This assumes great significance as admittedly the 
procedure of search of the Alto vehicle which allegedly he had 
been driving and the seizure of charas, the registration certificate 
of the vehicle and the passbook in the name of the appellant in 
particular had been in his absence as well as without the 
B 
c 
participation of any independent witness. The identification of 
the appellant to be the driver who had absconded on seeing the 
patrol party therefore is the sine qua non for the proof of the 
charge leveled against him. The materials on record propel three 
pieces of evidence in this regard, firstly the testimony of PW-1 
and PW-8, secondly the evidence of 'GS', co-accused according 
to whom the vehicle had been taken by the appellant for bringing 
his wife from Anni and most importantly the recovery of the bank 
passbook in his name from the vehicle. Though PW-1 claimed to 
have identified the absconding driver of the vehicle to be the 
appellant in the search light, in cross-examination he stated to 
D have seen along with the other members of the patrol party, his 
back portion. He endeavoured to improve his observation, by 
mentioning that he had seen also his side face from a distance of 
40 to 50 yards, but admitted that appellant was not personally 
known to him before that incident. [Para 20] [974-F-H; 975-A-C] 
1.3 PW-8 though was silent with regard to the identification 
E 
of the fleeing driver, in
cross-examination he mentioned that at 
the point of time when the two vehicles were face to face, the 
driver of the Alto car was facing towards the police vehicle and 
he could recognize him. This witness however did not claim to 
have identified the driver to be the appellant, at that point of 
F 
time. The testimony of PW-1 and PW-8 taken together by itself is 
not adequately persuasive to unimpeachably establish the identity 
of the driver of the Alto vehicle to be the appellant. In absence of 
any test identification parade, implication of the appellant on the 
basis of this piece of evidence, where the appellant was not known 
to either of these two witnesses or had been seen by them before 
G would be clearly hazardous. Whereas the disclosure made by the 
co-accused 'GS' that he had lent the vehicle to the appellant to 
carry his wife on 19.10.2009 would not ipso facto be a conclusive 
proof of his identity as the driver of the vehicle at the time of its 
interception by the police party, the recovery of his passbook 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
959 
therefrom, albeit a factor weighing against him, cannot as well 
A 
clinch by itself the issue of his identification in favour of the 
prosecution. With the evidence forthcoming that the registered 
OWQer of the vehicle was PW-2 who deposed to have sold it to 
'GS', co-accuse~ but the registration thereof had not been 
transferred and further that the vehicle had been temporarily lent 
B 
to the appellant for his personal work, does not irrefutably rule 
out the possibility of use thereof by anyone of them at the relevant 
time. In the overall state of evidence with regard to identification, 
the view taken by the Trial Court ·was overwhelmingly reasonable. 
[Para 21] [975-D-H; 976-A] 
1.4 The photographs, claimed by the prosecution to have C 
been taken by the Investigating Officer, PW-8 with his digital 
camera to correlate the seized article with the one captured 
therein, wholly lacked in credence and persuasion. Not only, the 
photographs with the kind of camera used, did not record the 
date of the procedure i.e. 20.10.2009, some of those did not bear D 
any date whereas the rest are dated 05.01.2008, 7.06 a.m. The 
prosecution has failed to offer any explanation whatsoever for 
this anomaly. It is thus more than apparent that the appellant was 
implicated in the offence wholly due to the recovery of his bank 
passbook from the vehicle for which as a consequence his name 
was recorded in all the documents prepared in connection with 
E
the exercise undertaken. In absence of any other cogent, coherent 
and clinching evidence of his identification as the driver of the 
Alto car carrying the contraband, this document, cannot be acted 
in isola~ion to base his conviction. Having regard to the materials 
on record, it is clear that his arrest in connection with this case 
was due to the recovery of his bank passbook from the car and 
not on the basis of his spot identification. The prosecution has 
failed to adduce conclusive and consistent evidence to bring home 
the charge against the appellant. [Para 22] [976-C-F] 
F 
· 1.5 In a criminal trial, suspicion, however grave, cannot 0 
take the place of proof and the prosecution to succeed has to 
prove its case and establish the charge by adducing convincing 
evidence to ward off any reasonable doubt about the complicity 
of the accused. For this, the prosecution case has to be in the 
category of "must be true" and not "may be true". [Para 23] 
[976-F-G] 
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960 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017) I I S.C.R. 
A 
1.6 Having regard to the quality of evidence on record as a 
whole and in particular on the aspect of identification, the view 
taken by the Trial Court being convincingly reasonable is 
acceptable in comparison to one adopted by the High Court. This 
Court shares the concern expressed by the Trial Court on the 
B shoddy investigation conducted in the case, having regard in 
particular to the seriousness of the offence involved and reiterate 
the direction issued by it to the Superintendent of Police, Kullu 
to enquire into the matter to ascertain the reason for the omission/ 
lapses in the investigation, identify the person(s) responsible 
therefor and the action taken in connection therewith so as to 
C ensure against repetition of such shortcomings in future. [Para 
25] [978-E-G] 
Prem Singh v. State of Haryana (2013) 14 SCC 88 : 
[2013] 10 SCR 51 ; Krishan Chand v. State of H.P. 
2017(6) SCALE 468 ; Murugesan and others vs. State 
D 
(2012) 10 SCC 383 : [2012] 13 SCR 1 ; Rajiv Singh v. 
E 
F 
State of Bilwr and another 2015 (12) JT 305 - relied 
on. 
Mahinder Singh v. State of Himachal Pradesh 
2017 (13) SCALE 357 - referred to. 
Case Law Reference 
[2013] 10 SCR 51 
relied on 
Para 11 
2017(6) SCALE 468 
relied on 
Para 11 
2017(13) SCALE 357 
referred to 
Para 11 
[2012] 13 SCR 1 
relied on 
Para 13 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal 
No. 1110 of 2016. 
From the Judgment and Order dated 19.09.2016 and
22.09.2016 
G of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla in Criminal Appeal 
No. 218 of201 I. 
Ajay Marwah, Adv for the Appellant. 
Varinder Kumar Sharma, Adv for the Respondent. 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
961 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
A 
AMITAVA ROY, J. 1. The instant appeal mounts a challenge to 
the judgment and orders dated 19.09.2016 and 22.09.2016 of the High 
· Court ofHimachal Pradesh at Shimla rendered in Criminal Appeal No. 
218 of 2011 thereby reversing the verdict dated 29.12.2010 of acquittal 
of the appellant by the Trial Court from the charge under Sections 20 
B 
· and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 
(for short, hereafter referred to as the "Act"). By the impugned decision, 
the appellant thus stand convicted under the above provisions of the Act 
and has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 years 
. and to pay a fine of Rs. 2 lakhs, in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment 
for a period of one year. 
C 
2. We have heard Mr. Ajay Marwah, learned counsel for the 
appellant and Mt Varinder Kumar Sharma, learned counsel for the 
respondent/State. 
3. The skeletal facts portraying the prosecution case originate 
D 
from the wee hours of 20.10.2009, precisely 4 a.m when the police 
patrol party led by Inspector/SRO Sanjeev Chauhan (PW-8), while 
located at a place known as Kelti Dhar noticed an Alto vehicle bearing 
registration No.HP-OIK-0805 moving towards them from Shallang 
onward to Kullu. On seeing the patrol party, the driver of the vehicle 
stopped it, alighted therefrom and rnade good his escape in the adjacent 
apple orchard so much so that in spite of
vigorous search operations by 
using the search lights, he could not be apprehended. As the place was 
secluded, the investigating officer, PW-8 directed HHC-Hira Singh, a 
member of the team to scout for independent witnesses to participate in 
E 
the imminent search operations. The said constable however returned 
after 15-20 minutes to disclose that neither any independent witness 
·was available at that hour nor any passerby was noticeable. At this, the 
investigating officer associated HHC-Kashmi Ram and HHC-Hira Singh 
F 
as witnesses and initiated a search of the vehicle in their presence. In 
course of the search, a black and red bag was found by the side of the 
seat of the driver and when opened the search party found black 
G 
substance which prima facie by its smell appeared to be charas. The 
search team also retrieved the registration certificate of the vehicle which 
was in the name of Ses Ram son of Shri Devi Singh as well as a bank 
passbook of Himachal Gram in Bank issued in the name of Khekh Ram 
son of Chuhru Ram, Rio village Gramang, PO ,- Shallang showing a 
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962 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] ll S.C.R. 
A deposit of Rs.1,79,029/- as on 03.10.2009. The contraband on being 
weighed was found to be of 14.750 kgs. The bag containing the 
contraband was put in a cloth parcel and sealed with seal of impression 
B 
-C 
"T". 
4. In the report under Section 173 Cr.P.C. the driver of the vehicle 
who fled was described to be stoutly built with height of 5'5" and aged 
about 30-35 years and was referred to as Khekh Ram. After the 
completion of seizure, ruqqa was sent to the police station through HHC-
Hira Singh for the registration thereof. In course of the investigation on 
20.10.2009, the owner of the vehicle Ses Ram was summoned who 
disclosed that he had sold the vehicle to one Govind Singh on 03.08.2009. 
Gov ind Singh was intercepted on 20. I 0.2009 who in tum disclosed that 
on 19.10.2009 the vehicle was taken by Khekh Ram for some personal 
work. Subsequent thereto, the appellant, Khekh Ram was arrested on 
21.10.2009 while he was driving another vehicle. Govind Singh was later 
on arrested on 06.03.2010 and on completion of the investigation following 
D the receipt of the report of the chemical analysis, proceedings under 
Sections 20 and 29 of the Act was instituted against the appellant and 
Gov ind Singh. The accused persons having denied the charge, they were 
put to trial. 
5. The prosecution examined in all eight witnesses including the 
E investigating officer. In course of their statements recorded under Section 
313
Cr.P.C., the appellant and the co-accused stood by the denial of the 
charge and alleged false implication. No defence evidence was however 
adduced. 
6. The Trial Court on an analysis of the evidence on record 
F acquitted both the accused persons. On appeal being filed by the State, 
as stated hereinabove, the High Court reversed the acquittal qua the 
appellantonly while maintaining the exoneration of the co-accused Gov ind 
Singh. 
7. The impugned judgment being one of reversal altering the order 
G of acquittal into conviction on the basis of common set of evidence, 
expedient it would be to briefly note the findings of the two forums 
before adverting to the rival assertions made in this appeal. Noticeably, 
in essence, whereas it was canvassed on behalf of the prosecution that 
the materials on record amply establish the charge against the accused 
persons, it was urged on behalf of the defence that there was no evidence 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
•963 
worth the name either to identify the appellant Khekh Ram to be the 
A 
driver of the offending vehicle who fled on seeing the police patrol party 
or that either or both the accused persons were in conscious possession 
of the contraband claim to be seized therefrom. 
· 8. The Trial Court in assessing the evidence adduced by the 
prosecution was cognizant of the legal proposition that graver the offence 
B 
and severer the punishment, greater ought to be the care taken to ensure 
that all statutory safeguards have been.scrupulously adhered to and that 
a heightened scrutiny of such compliance thereof is warranted. On the . 
aspect of identification, it dealt in particular with the. testimony of HHC-
Hira Singh, PW-1 who though in his examination-in-chief stated that he 
C 
could recognize the pers-on fleeing from the vehicle, in the search light 
as Khekh Ram, he admitted in his cross-examination that prior to the 
incident, the appellant was not personally known to him and that he had 
seen him on that occasion from a distance of 40 to 50 yards. It also 
recorded that the investigating officer, PW-8 had not stated in his deposition 
that the absconding person was Khekh Ram and that he had been D 
identified to be so by PW-1, HHC-Hira Singh and another member of 
the raiding party, namely, HHC-Kashmi Ram. The investigating officer 
deposed that the co-accused Govind Singh had disclosed on interrogation, 
that Khekh Ram
had taken his vehicle for bringing his wife from Anni. 
The admission of the investigating officer, PW-8 that he did not record in 
the ruqqa the fact that the driver of the vehicle carrying the contraband 
E 
was facing him and that he accordingly could recognize him was noted. 
The Trial Court thus discarded the evidence of these two witnesses to 
connect the appellant with the offence. It was also mentioned by the 
Trial Court that if the seizure memo, Ext.PW I I A in fact had been prepared 
by the investigating officer at the spot, the same ought to have contained 
F 
the above facts bearing on the identification of the appellant and that 
absence thereof and the omission to refer the name of the appellant in 
the ruqqa Ext.PW8/ A and the special report Ext.PW3/ A did bely as well 
the claim of his identification by the police party. It was of the view that 
as evident from the ruqqa Ext.PW8/A, the name of the appellant got 
mentioned therein on the basis of his passbook recovered from the vehicle. 
G 
In the face of these anomalies, the Trial Court also concluded that the 
recovery memo Ext.PW 1/ A had not been prepared at the spot as claimed 
by the investigating officer. It also observed in this.regard that in the 
special report Ext.PW3/A, the facts mentioned in the recovery memo 
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964 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017) 11 S.C.R. 
A 
Ext.PWl/ A were not referred to and held that either the identification of 
the appellant was not available to the investigating agency or was 
subsequently introduced by the investigating officer in order to connect 
him with the commission of the offence. The Trial Court recorded as 
well that no test identification parade had been conducted qua the 
B 
c 
appellant and also marked the absence of any claim by PW-I, HHC-
Hira Singh that on the arrest of the appellant on 21.10.2009, he had 
identified him as the person who had fled from the spot. It discarded as 
well the NCB Form, Ext.PW4/E (in which the name of the appellant 
was mentioned), on the ground that as this document was supposed to 
be prepared prior in point of time to ruqqa, it was inexplicable as to why 
then the name of the appellant was not mentioned in the ruqqa which 
was sent to the police for registration of the case. According to the Trial 
Court, there was also no endorsement with regard to registration of the 
FIR on the ruqqa Ext.PW8/ A. The Trial Court viewed with disapproval 
as well, the photographs Ex. PW-8/B-l to Ex. PW-8/B-8 claimed to 
D 
have been taken by the investigating officer with his digital camera, of 
the car and the seized article, as some of those did not bear any date and · 
the rest were of 05.01.2008 at 7.06 a.m., different from the date of 
seizure of the contraband i.e. 20.10.2009. lri the estimate of the Trial 
Court, these
photographs thus could not be related to the seizure claimed. 
Vis-a-vis the co-accused Govind Singh, the Trial Court noticed that there 
E 
was no incriminating material to prove his involvement in the commission 
of the offence. Consequently, it acquitted the appellant and the coc 
accused of the charge. 
9. The High Court however on a reappraisal of the evidence on 
record laid emphasis on the testimony of PW-1, HHC-Hira Singh in the 
F 
matter of identification of the appellant as the person who fled from the 
scene on seeing the patrol party. Decisive weight was also extended to 
the recovery of the passbook of the appellant from the chamber of the 
dashboard of the vehicle. It recorded that the name of the appellant was 
mentioned both in the ruqqa Ex. PW-8/A and the NCB form which 
according to it had been missed by the Trial Court. The High Court 
G 
noted that the appellant had failed to offer any explanation about the 
presence of his passbook in the offending vehicle and by observing that 
there was no reason for the prosecution to falsely implicate him, returned 
a finding that the charge against him had been proved beyond all 
reasonable doubt. It however reiterated that the prosecution had failed 
H
KHEKH RAM. v. STATE OF H.P. 
·[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
965 
to prove the case against the co-accused Govind Singh and affirmed his 
A 
acquittal. The appeal of the State was partly allowed and the appellant 
was convicted under Section 20 of the Act and was sentenced as 
mentioned hereinabove. 
10. Before we move on to the analysis of the facts and the evidence 
on records apt it would be to deal with the rival contentions. 
B 
11. Mr. Ajay Marwah, learned counsel for the appellant has 
insistently argued that the prosecution having utterly failed to establish 
the identity of the appellant with the driver of the vehicle from which the 
contraband had been allegedly seized, the view taken by the Trial Court 
on the basis of the evidence both oral and documentary being flawless c 
and reasonable, the High Court had erred in law and on facts in reversing 
the same on grounds patently untenable. According to the learned counsel, 
as neither the evidence of PW-1 and/or PW-8 nor any of the 
contemporaneous documents claimed to have been prepared in connection 
with the search and seizure does establish in any manner the complicity · 
of the appellant in the offence, the conviction as recorded by the High D 
Court if allowed to stand would be a travesty of justice. Mr. Marwah 
urged that in absence of any clinching evidence with regard to the 
identification of the appellant as the driver of the vehicle who had fled 
on seeing the patrol party, the recovery of his passbook from the car
per 
se cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt his culpability. The learned 
E 
counsel maintained that an overall consideration of the oral and 
documentary evidence adduced by the prosecution would unerringly 
indicate that the documents with regard to search and seizure had 11ot 
been prepared at the spot but subsequently, to falsely foist the prosecution 
on the appellant only on the basis of his passbook and no other evidence 
whatsoever. Mr. Marwah argued that the photographs relied upon by 
the prosecution as contemporaneous documents in· support of the search 
F 
and seizure also bely the prosecution case. as none of those, though 
clicked with a digital camera, depict the date thereof i.e. 20.10.2009 and 
therefore cannot by any stretch of imagination be related thereto. The 
learned counsel argued that as conscious possession of the contraband G 
is an indispensable prerequisite for conviction of the appellant on the 
charge framed against him, absence of his identification is destructive of . 
the substratum of the prosecution case. According to him, as the view 
taken by the Trial Court is not only formidably plausible but also irrefutably 
reasonable, the High Court had.grossly erred in reversing the same by 
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966 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] l 1 S.C.R. 
A merely substituting its view, unsupported by the material available. In 
buttressal of his pleas, the learned counsel has placed reliance on the 
decisions of this Court in Prem Singh vs. State of Haryana 1, Krishan 
Chand vs. State of H.P. 2 and Mahinder Singh vs. State of Himachal 
Pradesh3 • 
B 
12. Per contra, it has been assiduously argued on behalf of the 
respondent/State that the identification of the appellant as the driver of 
the vehicle carrying the contraband having been established beyond doubt 
and the search and seizure of the commodity having been undertaken 
strictly in accordance with the prescriptions of law, his conviction· is 
unassailable and ought to be affirmed. According to the learned counsel, 
C the inferences drawn by the Trial Court are not borne out by the materials 
on record and therefore have been rightly repudiated in the impugned 
judgment and order. 
13. It would next be expedient to briefly deal with the authorities 
cited at the Bar to recapitulate the judicial enunciation of the scope of an 
D Appellate Court to reverse an order of acquittal in a criminal trial. In 
Prem Singh1, the challenge was to the judgment of reversal of the 
jurisdictional High Court whereby the appellant was convicted along 
with the co-accused Vishwa Bandhu under Section 302 read with Section 
34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short hereafter referred to as the "IPC") 
E 
F 
G 
and sentenced to undergo rigorous
imprisonment for life. The appellant 
and the aforenamed co-accused had been acquitted by the Trial Court. 
All the seven accused persons were acquitted of the charge of murder 
of Siri Krishan who as per the prosecution case was on 26.11.1993 at 
about 6.30/6.45 a.m. gunned down by some persons while he was on his 
morning walk. The incident was reported to the brother of the deceased 
PW-16, Sohan Lal by one Vijay Kumar, a neighbour. On receipt of the 
information, PW-16 along with his nephew Navneet Kumar and Vijay 
Kumar went to the spot and found the deceased lying in a pool of blood. 
He was removed in injured condition to the Government Hospital where 
he was declared to have been brought dead. 
The FIR was registered and on the completion of the investigation, 
charge-sheet was laid against the appellant and others under Sections 
120-B, 148, 302 read with Section 149 IPC and Section 25 of the Anus 
1 c2013J 14 sec 88 
22017(6) SCALE 468 
H 
'Criminal Appeal No.1286 of 2017 decided on 31.7.2017.
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
967 
Act, 1959. The investigation amongst others led to the recovery of firearms 
A 
- on the disclosure of the appellant and co-accused Ballu. Further, several 
empty cartridges and lead bullets were also recovered from the place of 
occurrence. In the postmortem, three-bullets were extricated from the 
dead body. The investigating agency forwarded the firearms recovered 
along with the bullets retrieved from the dead body for forensic 
B 
examination. Charge was framed against the accused persons on the 
provisions of law under which charge-sheet had been submitted. At the 
end of the trial however, all the accused persons were acquitted. In the 
appeal by the State, the High Court, as noted hereinabove, reversed the 
acquittal qua the appellant and the co-accused Vishwa Bandhu. 
This Court while reflecting on the scope of the power of the High C -
Court under Section 378 of the Co-de of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for 
short hereafter referred to as the "Code") in dealing with an order of 
acquittal referred amongst others to an extract from its earlier verdict in 
Murugesan and others vs. State4• The legal proposition as enunciated 
in paragraph 21 of the said ruling, as quoted hereunder, was noted: 
D 
"21. A concise statement of the law on the issue that had emerged 
after over half a century of evolution since Sheo Swarup is to be 
found in para 42 of the Report in Chandrappa v. State of Karnataka. 
The same may, therefore,
be usefully noticed below: (SCC p.432) 
"42. ·From the above decisions, in our considered view, the 
E 
following general principles regarding powers of the appellate court 
while dealing with an appeal against an order of ac9uittal emerge: 
(1) An appellate court has full power to review, re-appreciate 
and reconsider the evidence upon which the order of acquittal 
is founded. 
F 
(2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no limitation, 
restriction or condition on exercise of such power and an 
appellate court on the evidence before it may reach its own 
- conclusion, both on questions of fact and oflaw. 
G 
(3) Various expressions, such as, 'substantial and compelling 
reasons', 'good and sufficient grounds', 'very strong 
circumstances', 'distorted conclusions~, 'glaring mistakes', etc. 
are not intended to curtail extensive powers of an appellate 
•c2012) 10 sec 383 
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968 
A 
B 
c 
D 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 
court in an appeal against acquittal. Such phraseologies are 
more in the nature of 'flourishes oflanguage' to emphasise the 
reluctance of an appellate court to interfere with acquittal than 
to curtail the power of the court to review the evidence and to 
come to its own conclusion. 
( 4) An appellate court, however, must bear in mind that in case 
of acquittal, there is double presumption in favour of the 
accused. Firstly, the presumption of innocence is available to 
him under the fundamental principle of criminal jurisprudence 
that every person shall be presumed to be innocent unless he 
is proved guilty by a competent court of law. Secondly, the 
accused having secured his acquittal, the presumption of his 
innocence is further reinforced, reaffirmed and strengthened 
by the trial court. 
(5) If two reasonable conclusions are possible on the basis of 
the evidence on record. the appellate court should not disturb 
the finding of acquittal recorded by the trial court." 
(Emphasis supplied) 
In the above jurisprudential backdrop, this Court next analyzed 
the evidence adduced by the prosecution and the scrutiny thereof by the 
E Trial Court in recording acquittal of the appellant and the co-accused. 
F 
G 
H 
The fatal anomalies and deficiencies in the prosecution case, as noticed, 
by the Trial Court were enumerated thus: 
(a) Vijay Kumar who had reported about the incident to PW-16, 
Sohan Lal had not been
examined by the prosecution, though 
it was its case that Vijay Kumar had witnessed the 
occurrence. 
(b) Though the prosecution tried to justify the non-examination 
of Vijay Kumar by contending that it was his daughter who 
had witnessed the occurrence, even she was not adduced 
as a witness. 
(c) The testimony of PW-11, Sohan Lal and PW-12, Bharat Lal 
were not worthy of any credence as they conceded that 
they had not received any summons to appear as witness 
and in fact had appeared at the request of the son of the 
deceased.
KHEKH RAM v. STATE.OF H.P. 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
969 
(d) PW-11, Sohan Lal was an employee of the brother of PW-
A 
13, Smt. Pushpa Devi, who was the wife of the deceased.· 
(e) Though PW-11 and PW-12 claimed that they knew the 
deceased from before and that the house of the deceased 
was very near to the place of occurrence, they did neither 
visit the house of the deceased nor inform the family members 
B 
of the deceased nor did they report the incident to the police .. 
(f) They instead roamed about aimlessly in the streets of Kamal 
until they came to the place of occurrence when their 
statements were recorded by the poiice. 
(g) The recovery of weapons at the instance. of the appellant C 
and the co-accused Ballu was highly doubtful. 
(h) As per the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory, 
Madhuban, no neims could be established between the bullets 
recovered from the dead body and the firearms allegedly 
recovered. 
(i) PW-11 and PW-12 had identified the accused including.the 
appellant for the first time in Court. · 
(j) The evidence of PW-11 and PW-12 was full of significant · 
discrepancies with regard to the identity ofthe accused and 
D 
the roles attributed to them in the perpetration of the crime. 
E 
In the above overwhelming factual premise, this Court concluded 
that the finding of innocence recorded by Trial Court was a reasonably 
possible view taken on the basis of the evidence and materials on record 
and thus the High Court ought not to have disturbed
the same even if, on 
a re-app~eciation of the evidence it was inclined to take' a different view. 
This Court reiterated the oft quoted fundamental propo'sition that so long 
the view taken by the Trial Court in awarding acquittal on a criminal · 
charge was a possible one, the exercise of the appellate power of the 
High Court under Section 378 of the Code would remain circumscribed 
by the well-settled parameters noticed hereinabove.The conviction of 
F 
the appellant was set aside in the attendant facts and circumstances and 
G 
his acquittal was res.tored. 
. 
. 
14. This Court in Krishan Chand2, was seized· with the 
·impugnment of the judgment of the territorial High Court convicting the 
appellant under Section 30 of tbe Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic 
Substances, Act, 1985 (for short hereafter referred to as the "NDPS H
970 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] ll S.C.R. 
A Act") and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period 
of20 years and to pay fine of Rs. 2,00,000/- with default stipulation, by 
reversing the acquittal recorded by the Trial Court. 
The prosecution case, as noted in brief was that on 27.11.2010 at 
about 5 a.m. while the patrol party including the complainant-SRO 
B Gurbachan Singh, PW-6 was on duty at the Patarna Bridge, a person 
was seen coming with a rucksack on his back. On ·seeing the police 
party, he tried to flee but was apprehended and he disclosed his name to 
be Krishan Chand. His bag was searched which revealed some black 
substance which appeared to be charas. The contraband on being 
weighed was found to be of7 kgs. It was seized and sealed. The appellant 
C was arrested. Ruqqa was prepared and was sent to the police station 
and after obtaining the report from the Forensic Science Laboratory, the 
appellant was sent up for trial. Prosecution examined six witnesses. In 
course of his statement under Section 313 Cr.P.C. the appellant denied 
recovery of charas from him. He further claimed to be innocent and 
D alleged that he had been falsely implicatt:J. He also examined two 
witnesses Narain Singh and Govind Singh in defence. 
The Trial Court acquitted the appellant holding that the prosecution 
had failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt. In the appeal, 
filed by the State, the High Court convicted and sentenced the appellant 
E as
above. 
The principal plea of the appellant before this Court was thatthe 
High Court had failed to appreciate that in absence of any independent 
witness, the evidence of the police witnesses ·ought to have been 
scrutinized with greater care and as the police witnesses had contradicted 
F themselves about the authorship of the seizure memo, the arrest memo, 
consent memo and the NCB, no interference with the acquittal ought to 
have been made. The evidence of PWc4 and PW-6 was referred to for 
reinforcing the above assertion. 
This Court noted that the Trial Court in acquitting the appellant 
G had laid emphasis on two aspects, namely, no independent witness was 
examined and fatal contradictions in the testimonies of PW-4 and PW-6. 
This Court, analyzing the testimony of PW-4, Umesh Kumar recorded 
that this witness had stated that as the place of the occurrence was 
isolated having no habitation nearby, he was associated in the investigation 
by PW-6, Gurbachan (complainant) whereafter the person as well as 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. ·· 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
971 
the bag of the appellant was searched after making him aware of his 
A 
right to have the said exercise undertaken before a Magistrate or a 
Gazetted Officer. This witness affirmed that on searching the bag of the 
appellant, charas weighing 7 kg. was detected which was seized, parceled 
and sealed whereafter NCB form was filled up, sample seal. was taken 
in a separate piece of cloth and the seized contraband was taken in 
B 
· possession and the related memo was signed by him as well as Head 
·Constable, Tain Singh. This witness disclosed further that the party was 
at the spot for about l hour 40 minutes and it was dark at the relevant 
point of time. Further they did neither have any search light nor the lights 
of the vehicle had been switched on. He expressed ignorance as to in 
whose handwriting the consent memo was written. He however stated C 
· that the search memo, seizure memo, arrest memo, sample seal and the 
NCB Form were all in the hand of SHO, Gurbachan Singh. He also 
stated that he was not aware as to who scribed the personal search 
· memo of the accused. 
While appraising the testimony of PW-6 this Court noticed in 
D 
particular that this witness did not remember the duration of the stay of 
the police party at the spot before the accused was apprehended. This 
witness .however was clear in deposing that it was not night time and · 
that the accused could be seen from a distance of 10 meters. He
contradicted PW-4 by stating that the consent memo, memo of search, 
seizure memo, noting on the sample seal, memo of personal search was 
not in his hands but was got written by him from one of the members of 
the police party under his dictation. 
E 
· This Court noticed the contradiction on the above aspects in the 
evidence of PW-4 and PW-6 and observed that those could not be glossed 
over as minor, more particularly in the background of the allegation of F 
false implication made by the accused/appellant. It held the view, that 
from the evidence it appeared that the place where the accused/appellant · 
had been apprehended was not an isolated'one as one house of Govind 
Singh, DW-2 was located nearby. This Court thus rejected the version 
of the prosecution that independent witnesses could not be associated G 
as the place was desofate. In all, in view of the above inconsistencies 
and the deficiencies in prosecution evidence, this Court held that the · 
possession of the contraband by the accused/appellant and seizure thereof 
from him was dot\btful. It noted as well that though there was a reference 
of recovery of knife at the time of opening of the bag allegedly carried 
H
972 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] l l S.C.R. 
A by the accused/appellant, it did not find place in the seizure memo which 
further created doubt in the prosecution case. The conviction was set 
aside holding that the High Court had failed to take note of the 
contradictions in the evidence in the proper perspective and had failed 
thereby to appreciate that harsher is the punishment, the stricter ought 
B to be the proof of the charge. 
15. The elaboration of the facts in the decisions cited at the Bar 
has been to underline the factual setting in which reversal of the orders 
of acquittal had been interfered with by this Court. Though it is no longer 
res integra that an order of acquittal, if appealed against, ought not to be 
C lightly interfered with, it is trite as well that the Appellate Court is fully 
empowered to review, re-appreciate and reconsider the evidence on 
record and to reach its own conclusions both on questions of fact and on 
law. As a corollary, the Appellate Court would be within its jurisdiction 
and authority to dislodge an acquittal on sound, cogent and persuasive 
reasons based on the recorded facts and the law applicable. If only 
D when the view taken by the Trial Court in ordering acquittal is an equally 
plausible and reasonable one that the Appellate Court would not readily 
substitute the same· by another view available to it, on its independent 
appraisal of the materials on record. This legally acknowledged restraint 
on the power of the
Appellate Court would get attracted only ifthe two 
views are equally plaµsible and reasonable and not otherwise. If the 
E 
view taken by the Trial Court is a possible but not a reasonable one 
when tested on the evidence on record and the legal principles applied, 
unquestionably it can and ought to be displaced by a plausible and 
reasonable view by the Appellate Court in furtherance of the ultimate 
cause of justice. Though no innocent ought to be punished, it is equally 
F 
imperative that a guilty ought not to be let of casually lest justice is a 
casualty. 
16. Having regard to the two irreconcilable views adopted by the 
Courts below, it is felt expedient to revisit the essential aspects of the 
evidence bearing in particular on the identification of the appellant as the 
. G possessor and carrier of the contraband. The FIR registered on 20.10.2009 
discloses PW-8, Inspector Sanjeev Chauhan to be the complainant/ 
informant. It sets out that on 20.10.2009 at about 4 a.m. the vehicle HP-
OlK-0805 which was coming from Shallang was signalled to stop by the 
patrol party, whereupon the driver thereof stopped the car, alighted 
therefrom and disappeared in the adjoining apple orchard and could not 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
973 
be apprehended in spite of being chased with search lights. The FIR 
A 
discloses that in spite of an endeavour made no independent witness 
could be secured and that on the search of the vehicle a bag of red and 
black colour was recovered containing 14 kg. 750 grams of charas which 
was seized and sealed in presence of the members of the patrol team, 
namely, HHC-KashmiRam andHHC-Hira Singh (PW-1). That in course 
B 
of the search a registration certificate in the name of Ses Ram s/o Devi 
Ram and a passbook of Himachal Gramin Bank, Kullu in the name of 
the appellant was recovered was stated as well. It was mentioned that 
the driver of the vehicle, who had run away after stopping the same, 
was well built with a height of 5' 5" and aged about 30-35 years and the 
person was named as Khekh Ram.' 
C 
17. PW-1, HHC-Hira Singh, who was a member of the patrol as 
well as search team substantially reiterated the facts leading to the spotting 
of the vehicle, the escape of the driver, recovery of the contraband and 
the seizure thereof. Qua the aspect of identification, this witness stated 
that at the time of his fleeing from the spot, he could recognize him in the D 
search light as Khekh Ram and also located him in the Court. In cross-
examination however this witness stated that when the search light was 
focused on the person, the police party noticed the back portion of his 
and he claimed further to have seen his side
face from a distance of 40 
to 50 yards. He admitted as well that Khekh Ram was not personally 
known to him before the incident. This witness testified that photographs · E 
of the bag lying on the seat of the vehicle were taken at the spot. He 
denied the suggestion that Khekh Ram was lifted from his house in the 
night of 20.10.2009 merely on the basis of suspicion and that he was 
falsely implicated in the case. 
· 
18. PW-2, Ses Ram deposed that he was the owner of the Alto 
car and had on 13.08.2009 sold the same to Gov ind Singh. He clarified 
that though the sale transaction had occurred, as the vehicle had been 
privately financed and the loan was not repaid, the same could not be 
transferred in the name of Govind Singh. This witness in his cross-
examination stated that after the purchase of the vehicle by Gov ind Singh, 
he had employed a Nepali, as a driver thereof. 
19. PW-8, Inspector Sanjeev Chauhan, the Investigating Officer, 
on oath reiterated his .version in the FIR and stated in particular that 
after packing the bag containing the contraband with a cloth, he sealed 
F 
G 
the same with nine seals of "T" and thereafter filled the NCB forms,· H
974 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 
A amongst others Ext.PW 4/E. He drew up also the seizure memo of the 
car, the keys, the registration certificate, the passbook and the charas 
vide Ext.PWI/A. He stated to have prepared the ruqqa Ext.PW8/A and 
handed over the same to HHC-Hira Singh, PW-I to take it to the police 
station, Kullu for registration of the FIR. He claimed that photographs 
B were also taken by him of the seized commodity in the form ofExt.PW8/ 
B-1 to Ext.PW8/B-10 with his digital camera. He stated to have 
completed the proceedings at the spot with the help of search lights and 
the headlights of the vehicles whereafter he directed ASI Ratan Lal to 
locate Ses Ram and to arrest Khekh Ram. He deposed to have summoned 
Ses Ram and Govind Singh to the police station and after the disclosures 
C made by them about the sale of the vehicle and the temporary 
entrustment by Govind Singh of the vehicle to Khekh Ram, he arrested 
the appellant on 21.10.2009 at 4 p.m. He stated that after the arrest of 
the appellant, he prepared a special report, Ext.PW-3/A. In his 
examination-in-chief though this witness had reiterated his narration in 
D the FIR that the driver of the Alto car on being stopped, jumped therefrom 
and fled, he did not claim to have identified him to be the appellant. In his 
cross-examination he however testified that when he came down from 
the vehicle, the driver of the Alto vehicle was facing him and he could 
thus recognize him. He
denied the suggestion that he had not mentioned 
in the ruqqa that he could see the face ofKhekh Ram. As the identification 
E of the appellant is of determinative significance, the instant scrutiny of 
the evidence has been, for obvious reasons, confined chiefly to this aspect. 
20. Section 20 of the Act under which the appellant had been 
charged prescribes for punishment for contravention in relation to 
cannabis plant and cannabis. Section 29 of the Act ordains the punishment 
F 
for abetment of and criminal conspiracy for commission of an offence 
punishable under Chapter IV. The gravamen of the charge against the 
appellant is possession and transportation of charas as punishable under 
the above provisions. It cannot be gainsaid thus, that the appellant to be 
guilty of the offence with which he had been charged, he must be proved 
to be in conscious possession of the contraband seized. This assumes 
G great significance as admittedly the procedure of search of the Alto 
vehicle which allegedly he had been driving and the seizure of charas, 
the registration certificate of the vehicle and the passbook in the name 
of the appellant in particular had been in his absence as well as without 
the participation of any independent witness. The identification of the 
H
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
975 
appellant to be the driver who had absconded on seeing the patrol party 
A 
therefore is the sine qua non for the proof of the charge leveled against 
him. The materials on record propel three pieces of evidence in this 
regard, firstly the testimony of PW-1 and PW-8, secondly the evidence 
of Govind Singh according to whom the vehicle had been taken by the 
appellant for bringing his wife from Anni and most importantly the 
B 
recovery of the bank passbook in his name from the vehicle. To recall, 
though PW-1 claimed to have identified the absconding driver of the 
vehicle to be the appellant Khekli Ram in the search light, in cross-
examination he stated to have seen along with the other members of the 
patrol party, his back portion. He endeavoured to improve his observation, 
by mentioning that he had seen also his side face. from a distance of 40 
C 
to 5,0 yards, but admitted that Khekh Ram was not personally known to 
him before that incident. 
2i.PW-8 though was silent with regard to the identification of the 
fleeing driver, in cross-examination he mentioned that at the point of 
time when the two vehicles were face to face, the driver of the Alto car D 
was facing towards the police vehicle and he could recognize him. This 
witness however did not claim to have identified the driver to be the 
appellant, Khekh Ram at that point of time. The testimony of PW-I and 
PW-8 taken together by itself is not adequately
persuasive to 
unimpeachably establish the identity of the driver of the Alto vehicle to 
be Khekh Ram, the appellant. In absence of any test identification parade, 
E 
implication of the appellant on the basis, this piece of evidence, where 
the appellant Khekh Ram was not known to either of these two witnesses 
or had been seen by them before would be clearly hazardous. Whereas 
the disclosure made by the co-accused Govind Singh that he had lent the 
vehicle to the appellant to carry his wife on 19.10.2009 would not ipso 
F 
facto be a conclusive proof of his identity as the driver of the vehicle at 
the time of its interception by the police party, the recovery of his passbook 
therefrom, albeit a factor weighing against him, cannot as well clinch by 
itself the issue of his identification in favourofthe prosecution. With the 
evidence forthcoming thatthe registered owner of the vehicle was Ses 
Ram (PW-2) who deposed to have sold it to Govind Singh but the 
G 
registration thereof had not been transferred and further that the vehicle 
had been temporarily lent to the appellant for his personal work, does 
not irrefutably rule out the possibility ofuse thereof by anyone of them 
at the relevant time. In the overall state of evidence with regard to 
H
976 
A 
B 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 
identification, in our comprehension, the view taken by the Trial Court is 
overwhelmingly reasonable. To the contrary, the conclusion of the High 
Court on this issue seems to be dominantly guided by the recovery of the 
bank passbook in the name of the appellant from the vehicle and the 
reference of his name in the ruqqa Ext.PW8/A and the NCB form. The 
failure of the appellant to explain the presence of his bank passbook in 
the car also weighed considerably with the High Court against him. 
22. The photographs, claimed by the prosecution to have been 
taken by the Investigating Officer, PW-8 with his digital camera to 
correlate the seized artide with the one captured therein, to state the 
least, wholly lack in credence and persuasion. Not only, as expected, the 
C photographs with the kind of camera used, do not record the date of the 
procedure i.e. 20.10.2009, some of those do not bear any date whereas 
the rest are dated 05.01.2008, 7.06 a.m. The prosecution has failed to 
offer any explanation whatsoever for this anomaly. It is thus more than 
apparent that the appellant has been implicated in the offence wholly 
D due to the recovery of his bank passbook from the vehicle for which as 
a consequence his name was recorded in all the documents prepared in 
connection with the exercise undertaken. In absence of any other cogent, 
coherent and clinching evidence of his identification as the driver of the 
Alto car
carrying the contraband, this document to reiterate, cannot be 
E 
acted in isolation to base his conviction. Having regard to the materials 
on record, it is clear that his arrest in connection with this case was due 
to the recovery of his bank passbook from the car and not on the basis 
of his spot identification. The prosecution, in our view, has failed to adduce 
conclusive and consistent evidence to bring home the charge against the 
appellant. 
F 
23. It is a common place proposition that in a criminal trial suspicion 
however grave cannot take the place of proof and the prosecution to 
succeed has to prove its case and establish the charge by adducing 
convincing evidence to ward off any ·reasonable doubt about the 
complicity of the accused. For this, the prosecution case has to be in the 
G category of "must be true" and not "may be true". This Court while 
dwelling on this postulation, in Rajiv Singh vs. State of Bihar and 
anotlier5 dilated thereon as hereunder: 
"66. It is well entrenched principle of criminal jurisprudence that 
. a charge can be said to be proved only when there is certain and 
H 
'(2015) 16 sec 369
KHEKH RAM v. STATE OF H.P. 
977 
•, 
[AMITAVA ROY, J.] 
explicit evidence to warrant legal conviction and that no person 
A 
can be held guilty on pure moral conviction. Howsoever grave 
the alleged offence may be, otherwise stirring the conscience of 
any court, suspicion alone cannot take the place of legal proof. 
The Well established cannon of criminal justice is "fouler the crime 
higher the proof'. In unmistakable terms, it is the mandate oflaw 
B 
that the prosecution in order to succeed in a criminal trial, has to 
prove the charge(s) beyond all reasonable doubt. 
67. The above enunciations resonated umpteen times to be 
reiterated in Raj Kumar Singh v. State ofRajasthan as succinctly 
summarized in paragraph 21 as hereunder: 
· 21. Suspicion, however grave it may be, cannot take the place of 
proof, and there is a large difference between something that 
"may be" proved and "Will be proved". In a criminal trial. suspicion 
c 
no matter how strong. cannot and must not be permitted to take 
place of proof. This is for the reason that the mental distance 
between "may be" and "must be" is quite large and divides vague D 
conjectures from sure conclusions. In a criminal case, the court 
has a duty to ensure that mere conjectures or suspicion do not 
take the place of legal proof. The large distance between "may 
be" true and "must be" true, must be covered by way of clear, 
cogent and unimpeachable evidence produced by the prosecution, 
before an accused is condemned as
a convict, and the basic .and 
golden rule must be applied. In such cases, while keeping in mind 
the distance between "may be" true and "must be" true, the court 
must maintain the vital distance between conjectures and sure 
conclusions to be arrived at, on the touchstone of dispassionate 
judicial scrutiny based upon a complete and comprehensive 
appreciation of all features of the case, as well as the quality and 
credibility of the evidence brought on record. The court must ensure 
E 
F 
. that miscarriage of justice is avoided and if the facts and 
circumstances of a case so demand. then the benefit of doubt· 
must be given to the accused. keeping in mind that a reasonable G 
doubt is not an imaginary. trivial or a merely probable doubt. but a 
fair doubt that is based upon reason and common sense. 
[Emphasis laid by the Court] 
H
978 
A 
B 
c 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2017] 11 S.C.R. 
68. In supplementation, it was held in affirmation of the view 
taken in Kali Ram v. State of H.P. that if two views are possible 
on the evidence adduced in the case, one pointing to the guilt of 
the accused and the other to his innocence, the view which is 
favourable to the accused should be adopted. 
69. In terms of this judgment, suspicion, howsoever grave cannot 
take the place of proof and the prosecution case to succeed has 
to be in the category of "must be" and not "may be" a distance to 
be covered by way of clear, cogent and unimpeachable evidence 
to rule out any possibility of wrongful conviction of the accused 
and resultant miscarriage of justice. For this, the Court has to 
essentially undertake an exhaustive and analytical appraisal of 
the evidence on record and register findings as warranted by the 
same. The above proposition is so well-established that it does 
not call for multiple citations to further consolidate the same." 
24. In our estimate, having regard to the quality of evidence on 
D record as a whole and in particular on the aspect of identification, the 
view taken by the Trial Court being convincingly reasonable is acceptable 
in comparison to one adopted by the High Court. 
E 
F 
G 
25. The High Court in the attendant facts and circumstances, in 
our determination, erred in upturning the findings recorded by the Trial 
Court. The impugned judgment and orderis thus set aside and the
acquittal 
of the appellant is restored. This Court shares the concern expressed by 
the Trial Court on the shoddy investigation conducted in the case, having 
regard in particular to the seriousness of the offence involved and reiterate 
the direction issued by it to the Superintendent of Police, Kullu to enquire 
into the matter to ascertain the reason for the omission/lapses in the 
investigation, identify the person(s) responsible therefor and the action 
taken in connection therewith so as to ensure against repetition of such 
shortcomings in future. The Superintendent of Police, Kullu would 
complete the inquiry and submit a report to this Court within a period of 
three months herefrom. The appeal is allowed. The appellant be released 
from custody if not required in connection with any other case. 
Divya Pandey 
Appeal allowed.