Criminal Conspiracy -- Advocate's Telephonic Contact with Client -- FIR quashed where CCTV footage contradicted principal allegation and no material established agreement to commit offence
(i) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.120B -- Criminal Conspiracy -- Advocate's Telephonic Contact with Client -- The gravamen of criminal conspiracy is an agreement to commit an unlawful act. Telephonic communication between an advocate and a client whom he represents in another case cannot, by itself, constitute evidence of participation in a criminal conspiracy. Mere professional contact, presence in the locality as reflected by tower location records, and co-accused statements unsupported by other material are insufficient to establish the existence of such an agreement. (ii) Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.120B -- Criminal Conspiracy -- Confessional Statements of Co-Accused -- Confessional statements made to police are inadmissible in evidence and cannot form the sole basis for implicating a co-accused in a criminal conspiracy. Where no independent material links the accused to an agreement to commit an offence, continuation of proceedings on the strength of such statements alone amounts to abuse of process of law.
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