Pointing out a series of severe lapses by the Investigation Officer (IO), the High Court of Karnataka has directed the police to conduct further investigation into a 10-year-old murder case of a 19-year-old boy, while setting aside the trial court’s verdict of acquitting the accused.
The court also directed the DG&IGP to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the then IO S.T. Siddalingappa of Doddaballapur Town police station for defective investigation and take appropriate action against him.
A Division Bench comprising Justice S.N. Satyanarayana and Justice H.P. Sandesh issued the direction while setting aside the October 26, 2013 verdict of the Doddaballapur court in acquitting four accused persons. “In effect, the entire investigation appears to be more accused friendly than in securing relevant records to bring guilty to the book,” the Bench observed, while pointing out that from the beginning, the investigation was done totally in a “listless direction” leaving several loopholes.
Mahaveer Jain was found with at least 28 stab injuries on his body and the accused had made attempts to bury the body. The offence was allegedly committed by one of his neighbours, who had studied with him for 10 years in school, along with his associates for want of money. The victim, after receiving a phone call from his neighbour, went missing on August 29, 2010 and his dead body was found the next day.
The IO had not taken any interest to identify the place where the crime occurred and had not pressed into service dog squad to identify whether any evidence could be recovered from the spot where the body was found, the Bench said.
Not collecting call details of the accused, delay in sending seized materials to forensic tests, not quickly probing allegation of demand made by one of the accused for ₹1 lakh from victim, and not verifying ownership of vehicles seized from accused were some other lapses by the IO listed by the Bench.
The then IO, who is at present serving the State Intelligence Wing, was summoned to the High Court to seek explanation for the lacunae and he had no answers but only said there were mistakes on his part and tendered an apology, the Bench said while declining to accept the apology.
While directing the DG&IGP to ensure proper training for IOs, the Bench said that the trial courts must be alert.
