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Upendra Khare v. The State of Madhya Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2026 INSC 538Decided 25 May 2026
Crl.A. No.-001937-001937 - 2013
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice Prasanna B. Varale · Justice Aravind Kumar

Background

Four members of a family (a man, his wife, son, and sister) were found dead in their home in Satna, Madhya Pradesh in 2002, with jewellery reported missing. The appellant, along with several co-accused, was tried and convicted under Section 302 IPC (murder) by the Sessions Court and sentenced to life imprisonment; the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the conviction. The appellant challenged the conviction before the Supreme Court, arguing among other things that the recovery of an incriminating item (a phial) at his instance could not be relied upon because the panch (independent) witnesses to that recovery had turned hostile.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court rejected the argument that a recovery is invalidated simply because panch witnesses turn hostile, relying on a consistent line of precedent (including Rameshbhai Mohanbhai Koli v. State of Gujarat and Mallikarjun v. State of Karnataka) holding that recovery evidence can still be proved through the credible testimony of the investigating officer alone. It found the investigating officer's testimony regarding recovery of the injection phial, corroborated by the postmortem report, to be reliable, even while acknowledging the overall investigation lacked the sensitivity expected in a case involving four deaths. Since the Trial Court and High Court had already acquitted the appellant on the theft-related charges (Sections 382 and 404 IPC) on proper appreciation of evidence, the Court did not need to revisit that aspect. It upheld the conviction and sentence on the murder charge as based on a just and proper appreciation of evidence, and dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

A prosecution's recovery evidence is not automatically thrown out merely because the independent (panch) witnesses to it turn hostile. Courts can still convict based on the investigating officer's own credible testimony about the recovery, provided it is otherwise unimpeached.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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