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The Honble Supreme Court in a case of Zahira Habibulla H.Sheikh and another Vs. State of Gujarat and others (1 supra), held as under:

If the lapse or omission is committed by the investigating agency or because of negligence, the prosecution evidence is required to be examined dehors such omissions, to find out whether the said evidence is reliable or not. The Court has to adopt an active and analytical role. The contaminated conduct of officials should not stand in the way of courts getting at the truth by having recourse to Sections 311, 391 CrPC, 1973 and Section 165 of the Evidence Act, 1872 at the appropriate and relevant stages and evaluating the entire evidence. It would not be right in acquitting an accused person solely on account of the defect; to do so would tantamount to playing into the hands of the investigating officer if the investigation is designedly defective and the designed mischief would be perpetuated with a premium to the offenders and justice would not only be denied to the complainant party but also made an ultimate casualty.