33
insinuate that that officer played a prominent role in the investigation, and was
taken off it, and that her role in solving the crime, earned her an out of turn
promotion. The AAG urged that the appellants relied upon the statement of DW1 Deepika Shinde, who had never claimed that she had made any arrest in the
present case. As an officer of the crime branch she was involved initially in
assisting or helping ascertain the basic details, as the victims were women. DW1 was posted with a unit called "We care for you", which focusses upon
women’s protection. Soon after Neha’s arrest, the IO felt that DW-1 was not
needed to do anything further. Her promotion was based upon her contribution
and role in many cases and this being just one for her initial response cannot be
considered that significant. It was submitted that her hidden role, alleged by the
appellants, is a bogey. While she admitted to analysing call details, it is
forthcoming from the trial proceedings, that the call details had no role – much
less any significance, in the investigation, or pinning the accused, their arrest, or
recovery of articles at their behest. Therefore, the theory of the appellants’
counsels that Neha was not actually arrested as projected by the prosecution, or
as found, is without any basis, but merely argumentative.
59.
The AAG submitted that chance witness PW-10 witnessed the immediate
aftermath of the crime, as he saw the three accused leaving after committing the
crime. He described, at the earliest opportunity- on 20.06.2011, that two boys
(one injured at the ankle, and the other at the elbow, and both bleeding as a
result of the injuries) were sitting on a bike, when a girl in a Scooty appeared,
and asked them to go to a doctor for examination. The so-called discrepancies
highlighted by the appellants, are neither material, nor of such importance to
discredit the entire version given by him, in the course of his deposition in
court. It was urged that nothing worthwhile was elicited in PW-10’s crossexamination. He clearly identified the three individuals, at the earliest
opportunity, i.e. after knowing about the occurrence of the crime and also
unhesitatingly identified them in court, in the presence of PW-18, the Naib
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents