In Brief
Govind was convicted of murder (Section 302 IPC) and illegal firearm possession (Section 25 Arms Act) primarily on the basis of weapon recovery and forensic evidence. The Supreme Court acquitted him, holding that mere recovery and FSL report cannot sustain conviction when eyewitnesses turned hostile, no motive was proved, recovery was from an unlocked accessible place without independent witnesses, and chain of custody was broken. The Court stressed that Section 27 Evidence Act requires information to "distinctly relate" to discovered facts, and conviction cannot rest on suspicion alone. Motive must be established when circumstantial evidence is used; here, co-accused with clear motive were acquitted.
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