Tulesh Kumar Sahu Versus State of Chhattisgarh, Criminal Appeal No. 753 Of 2021

Issues

• Whether the court can convict a person for murder solely on basis of recovery of stolen article from the accused?
• What is the test to check the authenticity of the recoveries made from the accused?

Held

• The Apex Court acquitted the accused by reversing the judgment of the High Court.
• Apex Court referred the Judgments of Ashish Jain vs. Makrand Singh (2019) 3 SCC 770, Sanwant Khan v. State of Rajasthan AIR 1956 SC 54, Sonu alias Sunil vs. State of Madhya Pradesh 2020 SCC Online SC 473 and held that where the only evidence against an accused person is the recovery of stolen property and although the circumstances may indicate that the theft and the murder must have been committed at the same time, it is not safe to draw the inference that the person in possession of the stolen property was the murderer.
• The Court relied on the case of Ashish Jain vs. Makrand Singh (2019) 3 SCC 770 wherein it was held that in the case of recovery of an article from an accused person when he stands accused of committing offences other than theft also, (in this instance murder), what are the tests:

1. The first thing to be established is that the theft and murder forms part of one transaction. The circumstances may indicate that the theft and murder must have been committed at the same time. But it is not safe to draw the inference that the person in possession of the stolen property was the murderer [Sanwant Khan, AIR 1956 SC 54];
2. The nature of the stolen article;
3. The manner of its acquisition by the owner;
4. The nature of evidence about its identification;
5. The manner in which it was dealt with by the accused;
6. The place and the circumstances of its recovery;
7. The length of the intervening period;

       Ability or otherwise of the accused to explain its possession [See Baiju v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (1978) 1 SCC 588].

Relevant Para No.

• 11