(1.) Having doubted the correctness of the decision of this Court in the case of Mohan Lal vs. State of Punjab reported in (2018) 17 SCC 627 taking the view that in case the investigation is conducted by the police officer who himself is the complainant, the trial is vitiated and the accused is entitled to acquittal, initially by order dated 17.01.2019 the matter was referred to a larger Bench consisting of three Judges. A three Judge Bench vide order dated 12.09.2019has referred to a larger Bench of five Judges to consider the matter. That is why, the present matter is placed before the Bench consisting of five Judges.
(2.) At the outset, it is required to be noted that the decision of this Court in the case of Mohan Lal (supra) taking the view that in case the investigation is conducted by the police officer who himself is the complainant, the trial is vitiated and the accused is entitled to acquittal, came up for consideration subsequently before this Court in the case of Varinder Kumar vs. State of Himachal Pradesh 2019 (3) SCALE 50 = (2020) 3 SCC 321 and a three Judge Bench of this Court [out of which two Hon'ble Judges were also in the Bench in the case of Mohan Lal (supra)] held that the decision of this Court in the case of Mohan Lal (supra) shall be applicable prospectively, meaning thereby, all pending criminal prosecutions, trials and appeals prior to the law laid down in Mohan Lal (supra) shall continue to be governed by individual facts of the case. The relevant observations in the case of Varinder Kumar (supra) to be referred and considered hereinbelow.
(3.) Shri Sushil Kumar Jain, learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the accused - Devendra Singh has made the following submissions in support of his submission that as rightly held by this Court in the case of Mohan Lal (supra) in a given case where the complainant himself has conducted the investigation the entire trial would be vitiated and the accused would be entitled to acquittal:
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