MP High Court Slams Police For 'Implanting False Witness' To Complete Murder Probe, Directs DGP To Issue Guidelines For Proper Investigation

Setting aside the conviction of two men in a 2021 murder case, the Madhya Pradesh High Court remarked that the police officials had implanted a false witness "in their zeal to complete the investigation without maintaining the integrity of investigation". Remarking on the "dishonest" status of investigation in the State, the court directed MP's Director General of Police to issue appropriate guidelines for proper investigation. It further directed the DGP to lodge a departmental enquiry against the concerned I.O. and other Police Personnel involved in the present case. Criticizing the conduct of the police officials regarding the probe, a division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh in its order observed that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem of the deceased had said that he had conducted postmortem on 25.9.2021 and that death had occurred within 4-6 days of conducting of the postmortem. The court noted that the evidence of two prosecution witnesses that the deceased was in constant touch with the daughter of the accused person from 19.9.2021 to 25.9.2021 was false in view of the postmortem report "because as we understand in the common parlance, science has yet not so developed to enable a deceased person to connect through mobile phone and talk to daughter of the accused person". It thereafter remarked:"This is another lacuna which reveals that how dishonest is the status of investigation in the State of Madhya Pradesh and all the prosecution witnesses including Police officials resorts to lies to just complete investigation and file charge sheet rather than carrying out honest, transparent and independent investigation". It thus directed: "The Director General of Police State of M.P. is directed to issue appropriate guidelines for proper investigation and institute proper departmental enquiry against the I.O. and other Police Personnel who were involved in the case, list of which shall be furnished by Shri Ajay Tamrakar, Government Advocate to the Director General of Police alongwith the certified copy of this judgment. Let enquiry be conducted as to what makes them to implant false witnesses to take away life and liberty of innocent citizens and the report be furnished within thirty days thereafter". The case stemmed from a missing person report filed by Lakhan Pandhre on September 22, 2021, after his son Rajendra did not return home. His mutilated body was later found in a forested area, and an FIR under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC was registered. The police arrested Nain Singh and his son Sandeep after allegedly recovering Rajendra's clothes from their residence. The prosecution suggested that the murder was motivated by Rajendra's romantic relationship with Nain Singh's daughter. The trial court convicted both men, sentencing them to life imprisonment with three years of rigorous imprisonment. The men approached the High Court, arguing that the trial court relied on unreliable testimony of the key witness. The bench found multiple inconsistencies in the prosecution's case. It was noted that the clothing recovered from Nain's residence did not match the description initially provided by deceased's father. Crucially, neither the phone of the deceased nor his gamchha was recovered from accused's house. The court also scrutinised the testimony of prosecution witness Chain Singh (PW 6)–presented as a key witness–who ultimately admitted that he only learned about the whole incident after being brought back from Kerala by the Police. The bench further held, "The prosecution did not re-examine this witness to extract any contradiction on the last statement that he came to know about the incident when Police brought him from Kerala. Thus, it is a gross failure on the part of the concerned Public Prosecutor who conducted the trial". Concluding that the investigation was compromised and the evidence unreliable, the court ruled that the alleged romantic relationship was merely used as a pretext to frame the accused. The court held that the evidence of Chain Singh was planted by the police to complete the investigation. The court, while setting aside the conviction order and directing the release of the appellants, held:"since the prosecution has failed to complete chain of circumstances and they have stooped down to implant witnesses which erodes the presumption of Police carrying out investigation in good faith, chain of circumstances is not complete and, therefore, impugned judgment of conviction dated 11.12.2023 passed by learned Ist Additional Sessions Judge, Mandla District Mandla, in S.T. No.37 of 2022 is set aside".Case Title: Nain Singh Dhurve v State of MP Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (MP) 170For Appellants: Advocate Devendra Kumar ShuklaFor Respondents: Government Advocate Ajay Tamrakar Click here to read the Judgment

MP High Court Slams Police For 'Implanting False Witness' To Complete Murder Probe, Directs DGP To Issue Guidelines For Proper Investigation

Jayanti Pahwa

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