Kanoon - Weaknesses in Prosecution Reasoning

Weaknesses in Prosecution Reasoning

• The prosecuting attorney (Manmohan Krishna) asserts in the beginning of their case, that Dhaniram was sleeping (because the lights of his house were found off). However the main door of the house was open (Badrinath's lookalike had come and gone through that, and Dhaniram's corpse could not have possibly closed the door back). The question arose, why the door was open at that untimely hour (12 midnight). The prosecution then changes the story and says that Dhaniram was awake at that time, and that explained the open main door. But he was trapped by Kailash immediately by indicating that if Dhaniram was indeed awake, the lights should have been on! Indeed there were two contrasting things at the scene of crime - lights were off, indicating the owner of the house was sleeping and the main door was open, indicating the owner of the house was awake. In fact, the door was opened (and never closed after that) by Dhaniram when Kailash Khanna went to his house to take back the blank signed paper written by Vijay (Mehmood). At the time Kailash Khanna knocks at his house, Dhaniram is shown preparing himself to drink a glass of milk (he never gets to drink that milk, and it is the milk in that glass, which gets spilt later, perhaps by a rat, on which Kaalia's footprints are later imprinted). He opens the door, and feeling ingratiated at having such an honorable guest, offers a glass of sherbet to Kailash. During their talks, Kailash peeps out of window, and sees Badrinath (in fact Badrinath's lookalike) coming towards the door. Kailash does not want to be seen with Dhaniram, so he hides in a sideroom. Badrinath's lookalike is received by Dhaniram, through an already open door (he had never closed the door after Kailash had entered). Without saying anything, the newcomer stabs him in the abdomen quietly, switches off the lights and goes away, without closing the door behind him. Kailash sees all this through the side room. Later he also escapes from the house, without closing the door. This leaves the crime scene with two contrasting situations - a switched off light and an open door. This contrasting situation was never explained satisfactorily by the prosecution. The best it could say was that both door and lights were open when Kaalia came in through the pipe. Kaalia murdered Dhaniram and then switched off the lights. But Kailash quite rightly points out, that if Kaalia had indeed switched off the lights, the switch board should be smeared with blood (as Kaalia's hands were full of blood when he was caught). No such blood was found on the switchboard. This allowed Kailash to make a deep dent in the story of the prosecution. The persons attending the court are shown admiring Kailash's reasoning.