The apex court in Kanchan Kumar vs the state of Bihar stated that “before giving discharge under section 227 of code of criminal procedure, 1973, it’s necessary to conduct the inquiry, to consider the facts and circumstances of the case and to see whether the case is prima facie is made out or not”.
The bench consists of Justice BR Gavai and Justice PS Narasimha said that inquiry of the material on record should be done carefully if there is any infirmity in the case that should be analyzed while considering the application filed under section 227 for discharge every possibility can arouse in the case should be considered.
In this case, a discharge application was filed by the accused under the prevention of corruption act, 1988, the case was filed against him because he possess things beyond his known source to allow to possess after hearing the facts and circumstances of the case trial court dismissed the application of discharge. He reached against this order to the High court but the High court also dismissed the challenge against the order of a trial court.
The counsel appearing for the accused contended before the court that the miscalculation and wrongfully including certain items is sufficient for discharging the accused from the charge. The counsel for the respondent said that the court should not conduct the roving inquiry at this stage.
The bench after hearing both the counsel and after looking into the facts and circumstances of the case the court held that there is no prima facie case is made out against the accused thus accused is liable to be discharged.