In the same judgment, The
Supreme Court, relying upon an earlier judgment passed in V.K.
Sasikala Vs. State - (2012) 9 SCC 771, Highlighted the
importance of the police in examining the documents that maybe
in support of the accused and held in the following words "As
observed by this Court in V.K. Sasikala v. State [V.K. Sasikala
v. State, (2012) 9 SCC 771 : (2013) 1 SCC (Cri) 1010] , though
it is only such reports which support the prosecution case that
are required to be forwarded to the Court under Section 173(5),
in every situation where some of the seized papers and the
documents do not support the prosecution case and, on the
contrary, support the accused, a duty is cast on the
investigating officer to evaluate the two sets of documents and
materials collected and, if required, to exonerate the accused at
that stage itself".2
1 Ankush Maruti Shinde Vs. State of Maharashtra - (2019) 15 SCC 470, paragraph 10 at
page 504
2 Ankush Maruti Shinde Vs. State of Maharashtra - (2019) 15 SCC 470, paragraph
10.3 at page 505
In Babubhai Vs. State of Gujarat, The Supreme Court
examined a case arising from a fight between two groups in
1 Ankush Maruti Shinde Vs. State of Maharashtra - (2019) 15 SCC 470,
paragraph 10 at page 504
2 Ankush Maruti Shinde Vs. State of Maharashtra - (2019) 15 SCC 470,
paragraph 10.3 at page 505
15
which three people died. The police are alleged to have
examined the case only from the standpoint of one,
completely ignoring the defence of the other. Emphasising
on the importance of a fair investigation, the Supreme
Court held "The investigation into a criminal offence
must be free from objectionable features or infirmities
which may legitimately lead to a grievance on the part
of the accused that investigation was unfair and carried
out with an ulterior motive. It is also the duty of the
investigating officer to conduct the investigation
avoiding any kind of mischief and harassment to any of
the accused. The investigating officer should be fair and
conscious so as to rule out any possibility of fabrication
of evidence and his impartial conduct must dispel any
suspicion as to its genuineness. The investigating
officer "is not merely to bolster up a prosecution case
with such evidence as may enable the court to record a
conviction but to bring out the real unvarnished truth".
147. Ld.defence counsel has relied upon the Judgment titled as Ankush
Maruti Shinde and Ors. Vs. State of Maharashtra reported in
(2019) 15 Supreme Court Cases 470, wherein the Hon'ble
Supreme Court of India has observed that :
99. The Court in the case of Ankush Maruti Shinde
(supra) refers to its decision in the case of Darya Singh v.
State of Punjab, AIR 1965 SC 328, to elucidate that the
Prosecution ought to act fairly and not deceive the Court by not
bringing the courts attention to evidence that does not support
its own case. The Court observed as follows:
The same Division Bench had occasion to deal
with similar issue at later point of time in the case of Ankush Vs.
State of Maharashtra. Although the matter was at interim stage, the
reasons assigned by the Court are vital and important. The Court
has analyzed Section 328 of I.P.C. The facts of the said case indicate
that on search 1970.80 kg of scented tobacco, pan masala was
seized. Crime was registered under Sections 26, 27 and 59 of the
Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and under Sections 188,
272,273 and 328 of the I.P.C. The petitioner therein had challenged
the F.I.R. relating to the aforesaid offences. It was observed that if
section 328 of I.P.C. is properly analyzed, then prima facie, the
Court is of the view that Section 328 of I.P.C. can be made
applicable in view of the language used in the later part of the
Section. The accused is running a business establishment and at the
time of search of his business, huge quantity of the contraband was
seized. Therefore, prima facie case of the accused is covered by
later part of Section 328 of I.P.C. In para 29 of the said decision, it
was observed that, since the case of the petitioner is covered by the
Sajakali Jamadar 61 of 66
Common Order-ABA-799-2022 and ors.doc
later part of the language of Section 328 of I.P.C., at least prima
facie, an impediment cannot be created for the Investigating Officer
to investigate into the crime. If the prayer made by the applicant is
granted, it would amount to stalling the investigation which is right
of the Investigating Officer to investigate into the matter, especially
when prima facie material is available on record that the accused
has committed offence for which the crime is registered against
him. The prayer for stay for investigation was rejected. Prayers for
no coercive steps or arrest of the accused in the said crime were
also rejected.
99. The Court in the case of Ankush Maruti Shinde
(supra) refers to its decision in the case of Darya Singh v.
State of Punjab, AIR 1965 SC 328, to elucidate that the
Prosecution ought to act fairly and not deceive the Court by not
bringing the courts attention to evidence that does not support
its own case. The Court observed as follows:
16 In Ankush Maruti Shinde V. State of Maharashtra (cited
supra) the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that it is the responsibility of the
investigating agency to ensure that every investigation is fair and does not
erode the freedom of an individual, except in accordance with law. With
regard to the said proposition there is no quarrel.
8. The learned Senior Counsel would submit that the
Inspector of Police, SOT, Bhongir is not having jurisdiction to
investigate into the matter and he has no right or authority to
go to the site. At the most he has to inform/lodge complaint
to the local police. Instead of doing so, he went to the site
illegally. He submits that the Police have implicated the
petitioners herein in the present case. He would further
submit that the first petitioner has received good citizen
award from the Commissioner of Police in the year 2011.
There are no witnesses to the alleged incident. Learned
Senior Counsel also placed reliance on the principles laid
down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Rashmi Chopra v. State
of U.P.1, Ankush Maruti Shinde and others v. State of
Maharashtra2, D.K.Basu v. State of West Bengal3 and
A.Omkar v. The Commissioner and others4. By placing
reliance on the above said judgments, the learned Senior
Counsel sought to quash the proceedings in Crime No.256 of
2020.