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The Man want village-folk commonly believe that treasure troves are lying buried in the town ever since the sixteenth century when its inhabitants fled away after the troops of Murtazahad invaded the town, which was then under the Ni- zamshahi of Ahmednagar. Quite some quacks in the periphery of 'Manwat make their living by diagnosing where the treas- ure trove lies and what means to adopt for diScovering it. Accused No. 1, though in her thiries, had entered a period of premature menopause. She was anxious to get a child which could only happen if her menstrual cycle was restored. She used to consult quacks and mantriks who, she 'believed, could help her get a child. Accused No. 2's mother was ,credited with a sixth sense in the matter of- discovering treasure troves. 'She had oracled that a' treasure trove lay buried in accused No. 1's house under- neath the Pimpal tree. The stage was thus set for the visits of mountebanks to the house of accused No. 1 for the display of their supernatural. attainments.

The case of the prosecution is that accused Nos land 2 consulted quacks who prescribed that virgins should be offered as sacrifice to munjaba. and blood from the irpri- vate arts be sprinkled on the food offered by way of Naive- dya to the God. One of such quacks was Ganpat Salve, the approver, who was examined as: P.W. 1. Accepting Ganpat's advice, accused Nos. 1,, 2, 3,4 and 6 conspired to commit the murders of virgin girls. Ganpat himself joined the conspiracy and so did Shankar Gyanoba Kate who was a servant of accused No. 2. Shankar, also an approver, was examined in the case as P.W.2. Accused Nos. 5 and 7 to 16 are alleged to have joined the conspiracy at a later point of time. In pursuance of the conspiracy, ten murders were committed between November 14, 1972 and January 4, 1974.

Accused Nos. 1 and 2 are the linch-pin of the case and therefore, it would be appropriate to deal with their cases first. Accused No. 1 is the mistress of accused No. 2 and whereas the former was anxious to get a child, they both were anxious to discover the treasure trove lying buried in their house. The charge against them is that for the purpose of achieving these objects they consulted quacks who advised that the Munjaba should be propitiated by offering the blood of virgin girls. Accepting that advice, accused Nos. 1 and 2 are alleged to have entered into a conspiracy with the other accused to commit the various murders. The prosecution relied inter alia on the evidence of the two approvers, Ganpat, P.W. 1, and Shanku, P.W. 2, in order to prove the charge of conspiracy against accused Nos. 1 and 2 as also for proving that various murders were com- mitted in pursuance of that conspiracy. The learned Sessions Judge accepted the evi- dence, of both the approvers as against accused Nos. 1 and 2 but the High Court rejected the evidence of Ganpat and accepted that of Shankar only.

This Court has in a series of cases expressed the same view as regards accomplice evidence. (see The State of Bihar v. Basawan (1) [1952] S.C.R. 377.

(2) 76 I.A. 147.

Singh(1); Hari Charan Kurmi v. State of Bihar;(2) Haroon Haji Abdulla v. State of Maharashtra;(a) and Ravinder Singh v. State of Haryana(4). In Hari Charan(2) Gajendragadkar, C.J., speaking for a five-Judge Bench observed that the testimony of an accomplice is evidence under s. 3 of the Evidence Act and has to be dealt with as such. The evidence is of a tainted character and as such is very weak; but, nevertheless, it is evidence and may be acted upon, subject to the requirement which has now become virtually a part of the law that it is corroborated in material particulars. We will assess the evidence of the two approvers Ganpat and Shankar in the light of these principles. Ganpat Bhagoji Salve, P.W. 1, fails to cross the initial hurdle of reliability and no amount of corroboration cure the infirmi- ties which beset his evidence. He is not a quack but a charlatan who traded on the credulous optimism of the ster- ile village women. He admits that he possessed no cure but made a pretence of it by carrying the confidence of lay, uninformed women. He was sent for to prescribe a cure to enable accused No. 1 to bear a child but accused Nos. 1 and 2, taking advantage of his expert presence, consulted him on where the treasure trove lay. Ganpat prescribed the facade of a procedure which was in the nature of a confidence trick. Practising it deftly on his credulous audience, he passed on the errand of God that Munjaba has to be appeased by offering the blood of virgin girls. That work was as- signed by accused No. 2 to his servants, accused No. 3 and the other approver Shankar.