2013. The witness (PW-14) proceeded towards his house for lunch at 12:10 P.M. He claims to have seen the accused appellant standing with a small girl and an English dog on the road, which was besides the forest. At that time, the accused appellant was wearing his watchman uniform. The witness did not pay much heed to this event and proceeded to his house for lunch. When he was returning at about 12:50 P.M., he noticed that the dog was tied to the window of the room where Sanjay Ganesh Rawat (PW-15) used to reside. On 2nd October, 2013, when the witness was called to the police station, he came to know that the dead body of the child victim had been found in the pond. The police showed him the photograph, and the witness identified it to be of the same child who was with the accused appellant. The witness claimed that he divulged to the police that he had seen the child victim with the accused appellant 37 Criminal Appeal No(s). 1954-1955 of 2022