Holding

Even disregarding the frail sniffer dog evidence, the remaining circumstantial evidence forms a complete chain that unerringly points to the appellant's guilt, and the conviction is upheld.

Summary

The appellant was convicted of murder and criminal breach of trust under IPC Sections 302, 34 and 404, based largely on circumstantial evidence, including a sniffer dog tracking, fingerprint evidence, and identification of stolen ornaments. The defence challenged the reliability of the sniffer dog evidence, the absence of the appellant's fingerprint at the crime scene, and the identification of ornaments by the deceased's sons. The Supreme Court held that sniffer dog evidence is frail and carries little weight, but its exclusion does not affect the overall chain of circumstances which, taken together, point unerringly to the appellant's guilt. The Court reiterated that a fingerprint is positive evidence when present, but its absence does not exclude presence, and that identification by male kin is admissible when corroborated. Consequently, the conviction and sentence were upheld and the appeal dismissed.

Issues considered

The admissibility and evidentiary weight of sniffer/tracker dog evidence in criminal trials.
Whether the absence of the appellant's fingerprint at the crime scene negates his presence.
The reliability of identification of stolen ornaments by the deceased's male relatives.
Whether the circumstantial evidence establishes a complete chain sufficient for conviction under Sections 302, 34 and 404 IPC.

Legislation cited

Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 302, s. 34, s. 404

Subjects

sniffer dog evidencetracker dogcircumstantial evidencefingerprint evidenceidentification paradeIPC Section 302IPC Section 34IPC Section 404criminal convictionappeal

Judgment

,,

A GADE LAKSHMI MANGRAJU@ RAMESH
v.
STATE OF ANDI-IRA PRADESH

JULYI0,2001

B [K.T. THOMAS AND R.P. SETHI, JJ.]

Criminal Trial :
·~·
Sniffer Dog-Tracking down of criminals by-Evidentiary value of-
C Held : Trained dogs can pick up scent from the scene of crime and reach the
hideouts of culprits-However, the possibility of error.on its part or its master
cannot be ruled out-Hence, criminal courts need not bother much about
evidence based on sniffer dogs-But investigating agency may employ such
sniffer dogs to track down criminals.
D Fingerprint-Presence of-At the scene of crime-Evidentiary value of
-Held: Is a positive evidence of presence of the culprit at the scene of crime
-However, its absence is not a guarantee of absence of the person concerned.

Circumstantial evidence-Evaluation of-Held : One circumstance by
E itself may not unerringly point to the guilt of the accused-It is the cumulative
result of all circumstances that mailers. Jewellery or ornaments belonging to
the deceased female-Identification of-By a male kin-Evidentiary value
of-Held : Female kin of deceased female 11·ould be in a better position to
identffy herjewel/e1)' or ornaments-However, if such ornaments are identified
by a male kin in the presence offemale kin such identification is admissible
F in evidence.

The appellant-accused was convicted by the trial court under Section
302 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, 1860 and was sentenced to
undergo imprisonment for life. The High Court confirmed the conviction and
sentence. Hence this appeal.
G
According to the prosecution, PW-2 went on a pilgrimage leaving his
mother under the care of the appellant. But on his return his mother was
found murdered and the ornaments that she was usually wearing were missing.
A sniffer dog, which was deployed by the police to track down the hideout of
the culprits, went up to the house of the appellant but he was not there then.
1-I 830
G.L. M/\NGRA.IU v. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH 831

Subsequently, the appellant was arrested and some of the missing ornaments A
of the deceased were recovered from him. The sons of the deceased identified
her ornaments in the presence of her daughter. The prosecution sought to
prove the case with the help of circumstantial evidence.

On behalf of the appellant it was contended that the evidence pertaining
to the sniffer dog was so fragile that no adverse inference could be drawn · B
against the appellant on the strength of the said evidence; that no fingerprint
of the appellant was collected from the scene of crime which was enough to
exclude his presence there; and that identification of the ornaments of the
deceased was a very fragile evidence since they were identified by her sons.

Dismissing the appeal, tl!e Court c
HELD: 1.1. The uncanny smelling power of canine species has been
profitably tapped by investigating agencies to track the culprits. Trained dogs
can pick tip scent from the scene of any object and trace out the routes through
which the culprits would have gone to reach their hideouts. Developing D
countries have utilized such sniffer dogs in a large measure. In India also
the utilization of such tracker dogs is on the increase. Though such dogs
may ~e useful to the in,yestigating officers, their movements cannot be of any
help to the court in evaluating the evidence in criminal cases. 1836-D-EJ "-
)

1.2. A four-fold criticism is advanced against the reception of such E
evidence. First is, it is not possible to test the correctness of the canine
· movements through the normal method available in criminal cases, i.e. in
cross-examination. Second is that the life and liberty of human beings should
not be made to depend on animal sensibilities. Third is that the possibility of
a dog misjudging the smell or mistaking the track cannot be ruled out, or
many a time such mistakes have happened. Fourth is that even today the science F
has not finally prono~;ced about the accuracy of canine trafking.1836-F-GJ _

2.1. The possibility of error on the part of the dog or its master is the
first weakness of the evidence based on tracker dogs. There is also the
possibility of misunderstanding between the dog arid its master. The possibility G
of a misrepresentation or a wrong inference from the behaviour of the dog
~ould not be ruled out. Th'e last, but not the least, is the factthat from a
scientifi~-point of vie"'., there ~"tittle knowledge and much.uncertainty as to
the precise fact1lties, whic~nable the police dogs to track and iilentify
-criminals. Police d9gs engage in these actions by virtue of instincts and also
by the tr~ining imparted to them. 1837-B-DI • H
)(
832 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2001] 3 S.C.R.

A Abdul Razak Murtaza Dafadar v. State of Maharashtra. AIR (1970) SC
283 and Surinder Pal Jain v. Delhi Administration, 11993) Supp. 3. SCC 681,
referred to.

2.2. The criminal courts need not bother much about the evidence based
on sniffer dogs due to the inherent frailties adumbrated above, although one
B cannot disapprove the investigating agency employing such sniffer dogs for
helping the investigation to track down criminals. 1838-BI

2.3. Investigating agencies can afford to make attempts or forays with
the help of canine faculties but judicial exercise can ill afford them.
1838-CI
c 3. Presence of a fing_!.rprint·at the scene of occurrence is a positive
evidence. But the absence of a fingerprint is not enough to foreclose the
presence of the persons concerned at the scene. If during perpetration of the
crime the fingerprint of the culprit could possibly be remitted at the scene it
is equally a possibility that such a remnant would not be remitted at all. Hence,
D . absence of finger impression is not a guarantee of absence of the person
concerned at the scene. 1838-F-G)

4. In a case based on circumstantial evidence one circumstance by itself
may not unerringly point to the guilt of the accused. It is the cumulative result
of all circumstances, which could matter. Hence, one circumstance cannot be
E culled out from the rest for the purpose of giving a different meaning-to it.
1839-B)
5. A female kin of the deceased female is in a better position than a
male kin to identify the jewellery or ornaments worn by a woman. But when
Test Identification Parade was conducted to identify the ornaments the
F daughter of the deceased was also called in. The sons of the deceased would
not have contradicted their sister while identifying the ornaments during the
Test Identification Parade. Hence, non-examination of the daughter of the
deceased need not be taken as a serious flaw, which could vitally affect the
prosecution evidence regarding the identification of the ornaments.1839-D)

G 6. There is no infirmity in the appreciation of evidence by the trial court
and the High Court. The circumstances of the case, even barring the evidence
pertaining to sniffer dogs, are quite enough to form the completed chain
pointing unerringly to the active involvement of the appellant in the murder
of the deceased. 1839-FI

H CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 58 of
G.L. MANGRAJU v. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH [THOMAS, J.] 833

2000. A
From the Judgment and Order dated 12th April, 1999 of the Andhra
Pradesh High Court in Crl.A. No. 1248 of l 997. ,

Moh it Mathur, K.L. Rathee and Subramonium Prasad for the Appellant.
B
Ms. T. Anamika and G. Prabhakar for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

THOMAS, J. A trust betrayed in a hideous manner, is the nub of the
prosecution story. When the son of an old housewife proceeded on a pilgrimage C
he entrusted his best friend with the care of his old mother. But that turned
out to be like engaging a wolf to guard the chicken. When the son returned
home from the pilgrimage he was welcomed by the dreadful news that his
mother was butchered, her jewelleries plundered and the one to whom her
care was entrusted had decamped. Prosecution indicted that friend to be one
of the marauders of the ensenguined episode. D

Both the indicted persons were convicted by the Sessions Court under
Section 302 read with Section 34 of the IPC and were sentenced to
imprisonment for life. They were also convicted under Section 404 IPC for
which a sentence of RI for two years was awarded to each of them. They filed E
separate appeals before the High Court and a Division Bench of the High
Court of Andhra Pradesh confirmed the conviction and sentence and dismissed
the appeals. One of them (Ramesh) has filed this appeal by special leave. He
is described by the prosecution as one of the friends of the son of the
deceased.
F
Kamalavathi, the victim of the episode, was around 65 when she was
murdered. She was the widow of one Ramagopala Subramanyam who died
about 15 years before the incident in this case. She and her children were in
a fairly affluent condition. Her two sons PW-2 Ramesh and PW-1 Gopalakrishna
were staying with their mother on the first floor of the house at Palakol (West G
Godawari District). Her only daughter was given in marriage to a businessman
at Rajamundry. PW-1 Gopalakrishna had gone to his sister's house at
Rajamundry during the relevant period.

On 11.4.1993, PW-2 Ramesh boarded a train for Sabarimalai on a
pilgrimage. It was the appellant Mangaraju who escorted PW-2 up to the H
834 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [20.0 I] 3 S.C.R.

A railway station, being a close friend. PW-2 then told Mangaraju to stay in his
house for giving company to his mother who otherwise wo~ld\have been all
alone. The murder of Karnalavathi took place on the night of 14th April, 1993,
at some time after 8 P.M. On the next morning the milkman (PW-4) Bramajirao
went to the house of Kamalavathi for supplying milk as usual. When there
was no response to his calt from inside the house PW-4 entered into the
B house and found to his consternation the dead body. of Kamalavathi lying
a
on the floor in puddle of blood. PW-4 screamed and ran out. He infonned
Kamalavathi's step son (PW-3 Narasimharao) who was living with his family
on the ground floor of the same building. On hearing the news PW-3 and his
wife rushed to the first floor and saw the dead body. He further noticed that
C the dead body of Kamalavathi did not have the ornaments which. she was
usually wearing. All persons concerned were ·informed about it.

It was Dr. C. Raghavelu (PW-13) who conducted autopsy on the dead
body and found that the neck was severely cut, separating the platysma,
sternomastoid, jugular vein and carotid artery on the right side, the thyroid
D cartilage up to the subcutaneous tissues. The investigating officer deployed
a sniffer dog to track down the hideout of the culprits. The track dog went
up to the house of the appellant, but he has not there then. A number of days
later, police got information that appellant and his co-accused (Golla Bujji)
were in a train destined to Palakol. On 22.5.1993 they were arrested by the ..-
·E police and recovered a number of ornaments from tbem.

The case against the accused ·was sought to be proved by the·
prosecution with the help of circumstantial evidence. A large number of
circumstances were projected by the prosecution. The _trial court and the High
Court enumerated those circumstances collected from the evidence. Both the t·
F courts found that those circumstances were well established by the prosecution
Ir
and they were sufficient to form a complete chain pointing unerringly to the
guilt of both of them. Accordingly the tri.al court as well as the High Court
found them guilty under Sections 302 and 404 read with Section 34 of the IPC
and convicted them and sentenced them as aforesaid. . :-...
G Shri Moh it Mathur, learned counsel who argued for the ·appellant
Mangaraju, made a serious endeavour to dig out holes on the edifice of the
prosecution case and for that purpose he made an ~ppeal for reappraisal of
the evidence. We allowed him to do so inspite of informing ourselves that
this is an appeal under Article 136 of he Constitution. Ms. T. Anamika, learned
H counsel for the State of Andhra Pradesh stoutly defended the conviction and
G.L. MANGRA.IU v. STATI~ OF ANDl·IRA PRADESH ITllOMAS . .I.I 835

sentence passed on the appellant. It is usefu I to recast .he circumstances A
which the prosecution presented through the evidence. They are the following:

(1) Death of Kamalavathi was doubtlessly a case of murder for gain.
It happened sometime between 8 P.M. on the night of 14.4.1993
and 7 A.M. on the next morning.

(2) PW-2, son of the deceased, entrusted the appellant with the B
duty to be with his mother in the house during the absence of
all the children of the deceased. But when he returned appellant
was nowhere to the scene.

(3) PW-5 Rammohan Rao saw the appellant in the house at 8 p.m:•. C
on 14.4. 1993 watching the TV programme and the deceased was
present inside. PW-5 sought permission for making call.

(4) At about 9 P.M. PW-6 Rambabu saw A-1 Mangaraju and A-2
Golla Bujji in a restaurant at Palokal. Thereafter he saw both the
accused riding on a motorcycle leaving the restaurant.
D
(5) On 15.4.1993, the police dog under the command of PW-8, after
. smelling the handkerchief and some other a11icles of the deceased
scampered up to the house of the appel!ant. But he was not
present there.

(6) On the next day (16.4.1993) appellant would have left the place. E
He and the co-accused requisition the services of PW-9 who
had earlier acquaintance with the appellant, to sell some gold
ornaments at Tirupati.

(7) Gold ornaments were sold by two persons to PW- I 0 (a gold
dealer at Tirupati) on 17.10.1993. Those two persons were. F
introduced to the dealer by PW-9 Sankara Prakash.

(8) The finger impression of A-2 Golla Bujji was found sticking on
the almirah of the deceased's house.

(9) Appellant and the co-accused were together arrested on the G
same day. A number of gold ornaments were found in their
possession. All those ornaments were identified to be the
belonging of the deceased.

The appellant denied all the circumstances including the fact that PW-
2 entrusted to him the care of his mother when he went on a pilgrimage to H
")(

836 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001) 3 S.C.R.

A Sabarimalai. The circumstances enumerated above, if established, are sufficient
to prove the guilt of the appellant without leaving any manner· of doubt
regarding his involvement in the murder-of the deceased. Hence the learned
counsel for the appellant undertook the endeavour to show that the evidence
relating to)bose circumstances is not reliable.

B One of the main contentions advanced by the learned counsel is that
the evidence pertaining to the sniffer dog is so. fragile that no adverse
inference could be drawn against the appellant on the strength of the said
evidence. PW-8 is the police constable who deployecj the police dog "Raja"
for the _purpose of tracking down the culprits of this murder. PW-8 said that
C the police dog was brought to the place of occurrence on 15.4.1993 and that
dog after smelling the blood, bloodstained handkerchief, a knife and a belt
which were strewn on the floor near the dead body, began its pursuit in
search of the hideout of the culprits or where the body was stashed away.
The track which the terrier followed thereafter has been narrated by PW-8 in
his evidence. The termini of the track was the house of the appellant.
D
The uncanny smelling power of canine species has been profitably
tapped by investigating agencies to track the culprits. Trained dogs can pick
up scent from the scene of any object and trace out the routes through which
the culprits would have gone to reach their hideouts. Developing countries {

E have utilized such sniffer dogs in a large measure. Jn India also the utilization
of such tracker dogs is on the increase. Thought such dogs may be useful
to the investigating officers, can their movements be of any help to the court
in evaluating the evidence in criminal cases?

A four-fold criticism is advanced against the reception of such evidence.
F First is_yit is not possible to test the correctness of the canine movements
through the normal method available in criminal cases, i.e. in cross-examination.
Second is that the life and liberty of human being should not be made to
depend on animal sensibilities. Third is that the possibility ofa dog misjudging
·the smell or mistaking the track cannot be ruled out, or many a times such
G mistakes have happened. Fourth is that even today the science has not finally
pronounced about the accuracy of canine tracking.

There are basically three kinds of police dogs-the tracker dogs, the
patrol dogs and the sniffer dogs. R_e<.:ent trends show that hounds belonging
to certain special breeds sheltered in specialised kennels and imparted with
H special training are capable of leading investigating agency to very useful
G.L. MANGRA.IU v. STATE OF ANDl·IRA l'RADESll !THOMAS . .1.J 837

clue in crime detection and thereby help detectives to make a breakthrough A
in investigation. English comts have already stated treating such evidence as
t admissible. In Canada and in Scotland such evidence has become, of late.
admissible though in United States the position is not uniform in different
States.

The weakness of the evidence based on tracker dogs has been dealt B
with in an a11icle "Police and Security Dogs''. The possibility of error on the
part of the dog or its master is the first among them. The possibility of
misunderstanding between the dog and its master is close to its heels. The
..~ possibility of a 111isrepresentating or a \Vrong infe'rence fron1 the behaviour of
the dog could not be ruled out. The last, but not the least, is ,the fact that C
from a scientific point of view, there is little knowledge and much uncertainty
as to the precise faculties which enable police dogs to track and identify
criminals. Police dogs engage in these actions by virtue of instincts and also
by the training imparted to them.

We will now refer to two decisions of this Court in which the evidence D
relating to sniffer dogs movement have been tested.

In Abdul Razak Murtaza Dafadar v. State of Maharashtra, AIR (1970)
SC 283 a three Judge Bench of this Court declined to express any concluded
opinion or to lay down any general rule with regard to tracker dog's evidence
or its admissibility against the accused, as it was not necessary to do so on £
the fact situation. However, their Lordships made the following observations
on the usefulness or otherwise of such evidence :

"It was argued that the tracker dog's evidence could be likened to the
type of evidence accepted from scientific experts describing chemical
reactions, blood tests and the actions of bacilli. The comparison does F
not, however appear to be sound because the behaviour of chemicals,
blood corpuscles and bacilli contains no element of conscious volition
or deliberate choice. But dogs are intelligent animals with many thought
-( process similar to the thought processes of human beings and
wherever you have you have thought processes there is always the G
risk of error, deception and even self-deception. For these reasons we
are of the opinion that in the present state of scientific knowledge
evidence of dog tracking, even if admissible, is not ordinarily of much
weight."

In Surinder Pal Jain v. Delhi Administration, [ 1993] Supple. 3 SCC 681, H
838 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [200 I] 3 S.C.R.

A a two Judge Bench expressed the opinion that "the pointing out by the dogs
could as well lead to a misguided suspicion that the appellant had committed
the crime, so save their Lordships side lined that item of evidence from
consideration."

We are of the view that criminal com1s need not bother much about the
B evidence based on sniffer dogs due to the inherent frailties adumbrated
above, although we cannot disapprove the investigating agency employing
such sniffer dogs for helping the investigation to track down criminals.

Investigating exercises can afford to make attempts or forays with the
C help of canine faculties but judicial exercise can ill afford them.

Exclusion of that.circumstance would not affect strength or sturdiness
of the chain found through the other circumstances which have been
established by the prosecution. Dealing with the fingerprints collected from
. the almirah at the place of occurrence, learned counsel for the appellant
D contended, first, that prosecution did not prove that the fingerprint used by
PW-7 to compare the finger impression from the almirah was that of A-2 Golla
Bujji. In our view the appellant cannot dispute that fact as A-2 Golla Buji
himself did not challenge it when a formal evidence was tendered by the
prosecution on that score.

E
Learned counsel alternatively contended that even if the involvement
of A-2 is treated as proved that is not sufficient to inveigle the appellant into
the dragnet. He said that the very fact that no fingerprint of the appellant was
collected from the scene is enough to exciude his presence from the scene
at the time of occurrence.
F
Presence of a fingerprint at the scene of occurrence is a positive evidence.
But the absence of a fingerprint is not enough to foreclose the presence of
the persons concerned at the scene. If during perpetration of the crime the
t-
fingerprint of the culprit could possibly be remitted at the scene it is equally
G a possibility that such a remnant would not be remitted at all. Hence absence
of finger impression is not guarantee of absence of the person concerned at
the scene.

Learned counsel contended next that the inability of the prosecution to
indicate the time of murder can go to the benefit of the appellant betause the
H appellant alone was once found in the house whereas he was found only at
G.L. MANGRA.IU v. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH [THOMAS, J.]839

the restaurant in the company of A-2. According to the counsel if A-2's finger A
impressions on the almirah is of any use the possibility of A-2 committing the
murder all alone cannot be ruled out.

We cannot approve of the .said contention as a safe method for
appreciating a case based on circumstantial evidence. One circumstance by
itself may not unerringly point to the guilt of the accused. It is the cumulative B
result of all circumstances which could matter. Hence, we are not inclined to
cull out one circumstance from the rest for the purpose of giving a different
meaning to it. ~

Learned counsel lastly contended that identification of ornaments as
those of the deceased is a very fragile evidence. The witnesses who identified C
the ornaments as those belonging to the deceased were PW-I and PW-2 who
are the sons of the .deceased. We agree with the contention of the learned
counsel that a female kin of the deceased female would have been in a better
position than a male kin to identify the jewellery or ornaments worn by a
woman. But we make a note of the fact that when a Test Identification Parade D
was conducted to identify the ornaments the daughter of the deceased was
also called in. There is no case for the prosecution or the defence that she
would have failed to identify such ornaments as those of her mother. It is
difficult for us to believe that PW-I and PW-2 the sons would have contradicted
their sister while identifying the ornaments during the Test Identification
Parade. Hence non-examination of the daughter of the deceased need not be E
taken as a serious ~aw which could vitally affect the prosecution evidence
regarding the identification of the ornaments.

We do not find any infirmity as to the appreciation of evidence as done
by the trial court and the High Court. We hold the view that the circumstances F
enumerated above even barring the evidence pertaining to the sniffer dogs,
are quite enough to form the completed chain pointing unerringly to the
-'active involvement of the appellant in the murder of the deceased. Accordingly,
we dismiss this appeal.

v.s.s. Appeal dismissed. H