NILESH DINKAR PARADKAR versus STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

Citation: [2011] 3 S.C.R. 792 · Decided: 09-03-2011 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: B. SUDERSHAN REDDY · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
[2011) 3 S.C.R. 792 
NILESH DINKAR PARADKAR 
V. 
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA 
(Criminal Appeal No. 537 of 2009) 
MARCH 09, 2011 
[B. SUDERSHAN REDDY AND SURINDER SINGH 
NIJJAR, JJ.] 
Maharashtra Control of. Organized Crime Act, 1999 - s. 
C 3 - Accused entering into a conspiracy on phone to eliminate 
prominent businessman - Conviction and sentence under the 
relevant provisions of the MCOCA Act and Penal Code -
Acquittal of A 1 to A4 of all the charges leveled against them 
by the High Court - However, the conviction and sentence of 
o the appellant-A5 upheld - On appeal, held: High Court having 
disbelieved the prosecution version against A 1 to A4, 
committed a grave error in upholding the conviction of the 
appellant only on the evidence of voice identification - Having 
disbelieved the voice identification in the case of accused 
. E Nos. 1 and 2, there was no reason to adopt a different yardstick 
in the case of the appellant -
Voice identification was 
c'onducted without taking any precautions similar to the 
precautions which are normally taken in visual identification 
of suspects by witnesses - There is no evidence on record 
F to connect the absconding accused with the mobile number 
allegedly used by him nor to indicate that the appellant was 
having or using any of the given mobile numbers - There was 
no seizure of any mobile phone or even SIM card at the 
behest of the appellant - Also, the High Court erroneously 
overlooked the infirmities in the evidence with regard to .the 
G authenticity of the tape recording produced in the court -
Veracity of the voice identification would not improve merely 
because a recording has been made after receiving official 
approval - Crucial identification was of the voice of the person 
H 
792 
NILESH DINKAR PARADKAR v. STATE OF 
793 
MAHARASHTRA 
talking on the tape - The revolver allegedly recovered from 
A 
-an open space, at the back of the house, did not even belong 
to the appellant, and therefore, could be of little assistance 
to the prosecution - More so, order of acquittal of the appellant 
for the offences uls. 315 of the Arms Act has become final -
Thus, appellant entitled to the ben~dit of doubt as the 
B 
prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt 
~ Appellant acquitted of all the charges leveled against him 
- Penal Code, 1860 - Arms Act, · 1959. 
Evidence -- Evidence of voice identification - Reliability 
C 
of - Held: Evidence of voice identification is at best suspect, 
if not, wholly unreliable - Ac9urate voice identification is 
much more difficult than visual identification - It is prone to 
such extensive and sophisticated tampering, doctoring and 
editing that the reality can be completely replaced by fiction 
- Thus the courts have to be extremely cautious in basing a 
D 
conviction purely on the evidence of voice identification -
Identification. 
Accused Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 are active members of the 
organized crime syndicate of a gangster. Accused No. 4 
E 
and accused Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 entered into a conspiracy 
to eliminate a prominent businessman 'BS'. To 
successfully carry out the assassination, movements of 
'BS' were kept under close watch. 'BN' communicated the 
office timings of the businessman to the accused th~pugh F 
his telephone. D.C.P. (Detection)-PW-42 received 
information about the conspiracy. P.S.1.-PW-17 
intercepted the telephone number and recorded a 
> conversation on the telephone number between the 
. absconding accused 'BN' and accused Nos. 1, 2 and 5 G 
regarding the conspiracy. Thereafter, on receiving 
information that members of gangster were staying at 
place 'G', raid was duly conducted and the four accused 
persons were apprehended. The search was carried out. 
Certain articles were recovered. The voice test H 
794 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2011] 3 S.C.R. 
A identification was conducted. The identification parade 
was held in respect of the appellant. The trial court 
convicted all the five accused for the commission of 
offences under the Maharashtra Control of Organized 
Crime Act, 1999 and Penal Code, 1860. However, 
B acquitted them of the charges under Section 3 read with 
Section 25 of the Arms Act. On appeal, the accused Nos. 
1, 2, 3 and 4 were acquitted of all the charges leveled 
against them. However, the conviction and sentence of 
the appellant-A 5 was upheld. The acquittal of the 
c appellant under Section 3 read with Section 25 of the 
Arms Act became final and binding. Therefor

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