One Dead, Two Served Life Sentence: 14 Years On, MP High Court Acquits Murder Convicts; Orders FIR Against IO For Fabricating Evidence

Fourteen years after their conviction in a murder case, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has acquitted eight persons, noting that the prosecution's case was based on fabricated evidence submitted by the investigating officer.Meanwhile, one of the convicts died whereas two completed their life sentences and were released.Acknowledging the impact of the case, the division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra directed the Deputy General of Police to register an FIR against the said investigating officer. It directed,"There is no eyewitness account. Chain of circumstances is not complete, evidence is planted and forged...This points out serious lapses in investigation so also into the conduct of I.O. Shri Rizvi, Dy. S.P. as we cannot allow Police to be partisan which it appears to be in the present case to play with the innocence of the accused persons...Therefore, we direct that D.G.P should register an F.I.R against Shri Rizvi and conduct investigation for creating false evidence and thus committing Criminal Contempt of the Court by fabricating the evidence on record and producing it to believe the Court to be correct". The case arose from the death of Ajay Rai, a fruit cart vendor, who was allegedly abducted and beaten to death on October 31, 2009. According to the prosecution, Rajkumar Patel and Arti Patel took Ajay Rai from his shop, after which he was allegedly taken to the house of Mohan Patel, where he was assaulted by a group of accused persons. Mohan Patel was projected as the main accused who led the assault, while Rajkumar Patel was said to have played a key role in luring the deceased. Kalyan Patel and Ramji Patel were alleged to have participated in the crime and were linked to the recovery of the deceased's belonging incluiding motorcycle, a purse and a bracelet. The remaining accused- Santosh Ahriwar, Monu Uike, Madhu Yadav, Manish Yadav, and Nitesh Vanshankar were alleged to be part of an unlawful assembly and to have joined in the beating of the deceased, without any specific individual acts attributed to them. The appeals were filed by all the aforementioned accused, challenging the conviction and sentence passed by the First Additional Judge convicting them for criminal conspiracy (Section 120B), rioting (Section 147), kidnapping (Section 364), murder (Section 302) and unlawful assembly (Section 149) of IPC. The individuals were sentenced to life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment for two years. The court was informed that the appellant, no. 1 Babu, had died in 2025, and appellant no 6 Kalyan Patel and appellant no 7 Ramji Patel have been deleted from the parties as they completed their sentence. The court noted glaring issues with the investigation, particularly with the role played by the investigating officer, Rizvi. The court identified serious discrepancies in the police's handling of evidence, including forged documents and testimonies that seemed deliberately manipulated. The court also held that the chain of circumstantial evidence was incomplete, witnessed were unreliable and key evidence was forged. The court noted that the testimonies relied on by the prosecution were riddled with contradictions. Further, the bench also cast doubt on the oral dying declaration allegedly made by the deceased naming the accused, as the same was absent from the Merg Information and FIR. The bench also discovered fabricated evidence regarding the deceased's clothing. The bench noted that Rizvi claimed to have recovered the clothing from the house of one of the accused, Mohan Patel. However, the postmortem report clearly stated that the deceased was wearing different clothing when his body was found. The court noted that the investigation was significantly mishandled and noted that the investigating officer appeared to have fabricated testimony and forged documents to support the prosecution's case. Thus, the bench observed,"Thus, we are of the opinion that this matter has been victim of botched up investigation. Investigation Officer became an interested parts in investigation and botched up investigation. He gave false testimony. He prepared forged documents as is evident from seizure memo of clothing of deceased Ajay Rai from the house of Mohan Patel". Therefore, the bench directed the Director General of Police to examine the forged document and testimonies presented by IO Rizvi, including the seizure memo of Ajay Rai's clothing. The court therefore set aside the convictions of all appellants and ordered their release, if they are not needed in another case. Case Title: Madhu Yadav v State of Madhya Pradesh [CRA-2011-2012]For Appellants: Advocates Jagat Dehariya and R.S. PatelFor State: Government Advocate Abishek SinghClick here to read/download the Order

One Dead, Two Served Life Sentence: 14 Years On, MP High Court Acquits Murder Convicts; Orders FIR Against IO For Fabricating Evidence

Jayanti Pahwa

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