The Supreme Court has acquitted a murder convict in a 10-year-old case on the ground that the two purported eye-witnesses, close relatives of the deceased, were unreliable.

“There is nothing to support and show the involvement of the appellant in the crime other than the unreliable attribution by Tara Singh and Varun Singh. The prosecution…, therefore, has to fail as it has failed to prove that the evidence has a ring of truth, is cogent, credible and trustworthy so as to establish the charge beyond reasonable doubt,” a bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna said in a recent judgment.

The apex court allowed the appeal filed by the murder convict, Guman Singh, challenging the March 10, 2017, judgment of Rajasthan High Court that had confirmed his conviction under IPC Section 302 for the murder of Shiv Charan. Guman had also been booked under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder) for firing at another person, Babu Singh, along with Siv Charan in Rajasthan’s Karauli district in August 2009.

The police had initially filed a chargesheet against four persons — Guman, Jagdish Singh, Satvir Singh and Shyam Singh.

Jagdish was acquitted by an additional sessions judge in Karauli in 2013. Shyam and Satvir were acquitted by the high court, which found only Guman guilty.

Guman challenged his conviction in the Supreme Court on the ground that it was based on the questionable testimonies of prosecution witnesses Tara and Varun, the son and nephew of Shiv Charan, respectively.

After examining the evidence on record, TThe Supreme Court concluded that the claim of Tara and Varun that they were present at the crime scene was suspicious. The court took into account the testimony of Gulam Navi, the investigating officer. Navi had reached the spot with a police team and found Shiv Charan dead and Babu injured.

“Statements of Tara Singh and Varun Singh…, under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, were recorded by the… investigating officer Gulam Navi three days after the date of occurrence on 03.09.2009. This delay is substantial and assumes some importance as it has been alleged that the FIR has been back-dated and was never sent to the magistrate,” the Supreme Court said.

“Pertinently, Babu Singh… had turned hostile and did not name the appellant and three others who were chargesheeted…. Babu Singh’s presence on the spot cannot be doubted, as he was the only injured witness. Babu Singh did not depose as to the presence of Tara Singh and Varun Singh…. He had stated that he was fired from behind and thereafter, had become unconscious and had fallen down,” Justice Khanna, who authored the judgment, noted.

The court observed that the bullets found in Charan Singh’s body had not been sent for a ballistic examination.