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PETITIONER: MOHAN SINGH

       Vs.

RESPONDENT: STATE OF RAJASTHAN

DATE OF JUDGMENT30/07/1979

BENCH: SARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH BENCH: SARKARIA, RANJIT SINGH TULZAPURKAR, V.D.

CITATION:  1980 AIR 1560            1979 SCC  (4)  11

ACT:      Penal  Code,   1860  (Act   45),  Section   201-Causing disappearance of  evidence of  offence  to  screen  offender legal punishment-Absence  of legal  evidence or any material on the record of the factual ingredients of an offence under Section 201  I.P.C. entitled  the discharge  of the  accused under Section  227 Crl.  P.C. therefore the charge framed as per Section 228 Crl. P.C. 1973 is illegal.

HEADNOTE:      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’s car  No. R.J.F. 2118 was made use  of in  carrying the  dead body to be thrown into a well on  the boundary  of village  Ramasani by Doongar Singh who latter  brought the  car back  on the  same day  to  the appellant’s bungalow  where it  was washed  the same day and thereafter the  appellant got  his car washed on 8-3-1978 at the Petrol  Pump of one Umraokhan, 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 that the appellant got his car washed on 8-3-1978 at a petrol  pump. The High Court refused to set aside the said order in revision under Section 482 Crl. P.C. 1973.      Allowing the appeal by special leave, the Court, ^      HELD: 1.  The impugned  order of  Sessions Judge  being based  on   evidential  material   whatever  was  manifestly illegal. [150A]      (a) The  mere washing of the car on 8th March could not be prima  facie evidence  of the  factual ingredients  of an offence under Section 201, Penal Code. [150A]      (b) The  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]      (c) there  was nothing  in the statements of the Petrol Pump dealer  and 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

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murder of Padam Singh to disappear. [149F-G]

JUDGMENT:      CRIMINAL APPELLATE  JURISDICTION :  Criminal Appeal No. 363 of 1979. 149      Appeal by  Special Leave  from the  Judgment and  order dated 28-3-1979  of the  Rajasthan High  Court in  S.B. Crl. Misc Application No. 128/78.      Ram Jethmalani and N. H. Hingorani for the Appellant.      Badridas Sharma for the Respondent.      The order of the Court was delivered by      SARKARIA, J.  This appeal  by special leave is directed 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 refused to set aside  an order  dated August  14, 1978  of the Sessions Judge framing a charge under Section 201, Penal Code against the appellant.      The prosecution  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  and  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 Mohan Singh’s bungalow where it was washed [vide the Police report  of A.S.P.  City (West)  Jodhpur]. It  is  not alleged that the appellant was in any manner concerned as an abettor or  accomplice in  the  murder  or  participated  or abetted the  removal and  disposal of  the deadbody of Padam Singh. The  only allegation  on the  basis of which a charge under Section 201, Indian Penal Code has been framed 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 Khan  son  of Umrao Khan,  Petrol Pump  dealer and  his servant, Mangilal. There is  nothing in  their statements  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,  to  disappear.  The presence of  bloodstains 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. The mere 150 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, Penal Code. The  impugned order  of the Sessions Judge being based on no evidential material, whatever, was manifestly illegal. We, therefore,  allow this  appeal, set  aside the  impugned Order and quash the charge framed against the appellant. S.R.                                         Appeal allowed. 151

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