Court Quashes Case Based on Statements from Deceased Informant

The Allahabad High Court quashed criminal proceedings against Purushottam Singh after discovering that an FIR and subsequent charge sheet were based on statements allegedly given by a deceased person, Shabd Prakash. The court ordered an investigation into the conduct of the involved police officer.

The Allahabad High Court has quashed criminal proceedings against petitioner Purushottam Singh after uncovering a series of shocking events where police registered an FIR based on a complaint from a person who had been dead for years.

The court found it even more bizarre that a charge sheet was later filed based on a statement allegedly given by the deceased. ''It is very strange that a dead person has not only lodged an FIR but has also recorded his statement before the Investigating Officer,'' Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery remarked in his order passed on August 6.

The court noted that a vakalatnama was also filed on behalf of the deceased. ''It appears that all the proceedings are undertaken by a ghost,'' the court further noted. The court directed the Kushinagar superintendent of police (SP) to investigate the conduct of the investigating officer involved in the case.

The case dates back to an FIR filed in 2014 at Kotwali Hata police station in Kushinagar district. The FIR named Shabd Prakash as the informant, a man who had died on December 19, 2011. Official records, including a death certificate and testimony from his wife, confirmed Prakash's death. Despite this, the investigating officer allegedly recorded a statement as if Prakash were alive, leading to a charge sheet filed on November 23, 2014, with the deceased named as a prosecution witness.

(With inputs from agencies.)