Mere discovery cannot be interpreted as sufficient to infer authorship of concealment by the person who discovered the weapon
Shahaja @ Shahajan Ismail Mohd. Shaikh vs. State of Maharashtra [Criminal Appeal No. 739 of 2017]
RELEVANT PARAGRAPH
45. What emerges from the evidence of the PW-4 & PW-10 reply is that the appellant stated before the panch witnesses to the effect that “I will show you the weapon concealed adjacent the shoe shop at Parle”. This statement does not suggest that the appellant indicated anything about his involvement in the concealment of the weapon. Mere discovery cannot be interpreted as sufficient to infer authorship of concealment by the person who discovered the weapon. He could have derived knowledge of the existence of that weapon at the place through some other source also. He might have even seen somebody concealing the weapon, and, therefore, it cannot be presumed or inferred that because a person discovered the weapon, he was the person who had concealed it, least it can be presumed that he used it. Therefore, even if discovery by the appellant is accepted, what emerges from the substantive evidence as regards the discovery of weapon is that the appellant disclosed that he would show the weapon used in the commission of offence.