Non Recovery Of Weapon Of Assault Not Always Fatal To Prosecution Case: SC [Read Judgment]

The Supreme Court has held that a prosecution case cannot be disbelieved merely because the weapon of assault or the bullet was not recovered.

In Prabhash Kumar Singh vs. State of Bihar, the main contention in the appeal before the Supreme Court against concurrent conviction of the accused in a murder case was that the medical evidence is inconclusive to connect killing of the deceased victim with bullet injury. It was contended that the bullet or any part thereof was also not recovered.

The bench, perusing the evidence on record, observed that there is clear eyewitness account of the incident and none of the two eyewitnesses could be shaken during cross-examination and they had stuck to the recollection of the facts relating to the incident. It also took note that as regards nature of injury, the gun-shot injury being cause of death has been established by the post-mortem report as well as deposition of the autopsy surgeon.

The mere fact that the weapon of assault or the bullet was not recovered cannot demolish the prosecution case, the bench of Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Aniruddha Bose observed while dismissing the appeal.

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