A view of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi. Files | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Supreme Court has decided to examine the bail plea of a 22-year-old man who claims the Maharashtra Police planted a pair of gold earrings on him to frame him in a theft-and-murder case.
In fact, the man said the trinket was recovered months ago from another man whom the police said was his co-accused.
A Bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy has issued notice to the State of Maharashtra.
The petitioner, Monu Kisanlal Kumar, is one of the two accused in the murder of a woman at a construction site in 2021. Kumar has been behind bars for two years now.
Though the Maharashtra Police panchnama shows the trinket was found on Kumar, his lawyers, Sriram Parakkat and Sana Raees Khan, drew the attention of the Bench to police records showing that the same piece of jewelery was recovered months ago from the co-accused in the cases.
“On the recovery of the earrings on the basis of the statement made to the police, the counsel points out that this is highly improbable in as much as on November 26, 2021, the recovery of earrings is shown from accused No. 1. Curiously, the same article is shown to have been recovered from accused No. 2, on January 15, 2022,” the top court recorded in its recent order.
According to the police, Kumar and his co-accused, Shivkumar, were interrupted by the victim during the theft. They stopped her from raising an alarm by fatally attacking her. The duo allegedly stole ₹30,000, a small bag containing identity documents, a chain and the victim’s gold earrings.
Kumar’s lawyers argued that the FIR was filed after a day’s delay and is based on hearing. There was no eye-witness to confirm that he had played any part in the crime. The case against him was based on the statement given by Shivkumar, amounting to an extra-judicial confession. His name was maliciously roped in by the police, they said.
The top court has listed the bail plea after three weeks.