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2014 (2) TMI 1389 - SC - Indian LawsMurder - charge of abduction - Shyamal and Prosanta were charged with having abducted Paritosh and thereafter having murdered him - HELD THAT:- The High Court believed the testimony of Dipak and Panchu and came to the conclusion that they had crossed the river along with Paritosh, Shyamal and Prosanta. However, the High Court did not take into consideration the view of the Trial Court, based on the evidence on record, that it was doubtful if the five persons mentioned above boarded the boat belonging to Asit Sarkar to cross the river as alleged by the prosecution. The High Court also did not consider the apparently incorrect testimony of Animesh who had stated that he had gone to the police station and given his version but despite this, he was not cited as a witness. The version of Animesh was specifically denied by the Investigating Officer. When the basic fact of Paritosh having boarded a boat and crossing the river with Shyamal and Prosanta is in doubt, the substratum of the prosecution's case virtually falls flat and the truth of the subsequent events also becomes doubtful. Unfortunately, the High Court does not seem to have looked at the evidence from the point of view of the accused who had already secured an acquittal. This is an important perspective as noted in the fourth principle of Chandrappa - Merely because the High Court disagreed (without giving reasons why it did so) with the reasonable and possible view of the Trial Court, on a completely independent analysis of the evidence on record, is not a sound basis to set aside the order of acquittal given by the Trial Court. This is not to say that every fact arrived at or every reason given by the Trial Court must be dealt with - all that it means is that the decision of the Trial Court cannot be ignored or treated as non-existent. The facts of this case demonstrate that the first link in the chain of circumstances is missing. It is only if this first link is established that the subsequent links may be formed on the basis of the last seen theory. But the High Court overlooked the missing link, as it were, and directly applied the last seen theory. In our opinion, this was a rather unsatisfactory way of dealing with the appeal - we are unable to agree with learned Counsel for the State and are of the opinion that there was really no occasion for the High Court to have overturned the view of the Trial Court which was not only a reasonable view but a probable view of the events. The view taken by the Trial Court was a reasonable and probable view on the facts of the case. Consequently, there was no occasion for the High Court to set aside the acquittal of Shyamal and Prosanta. Accordingly, their conviction and sentence handed down by the High Court is set aside - Appeal allowed
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