Defective investigations or minor discrepancies in the first information report cannot be the ground for an acquittal of the accused, the Supreme Court has held.

"A first information report is not supposed to be an encyclopedia of the entire event. It cannot contain the minutest details of the events," a bench of Justices S B Sinha and Markandeya Katju said while upholding the life imprisonment of a murder accused.

Moreover, the question as to whether the FIR is an ante dated one or not, must be considered having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, the apex court said.

Accused Budh Singh along with three others -- Kalyan Singh, Gulab Singh and Ashok Yadav -- shot dead one Durga Singh on July 31, 1989, in Madhya Pradesh's Jonhar village.

A sessions court convicted Budh Singh to life imprisonment but acquitted the others.

Subsequently, the Madhya Pradesh high court upheld Budh Singh's conviction and also reversed the acquittal of Kalyan Singh.

However, the Supreme Court on an appeal from Kalyan Singh acquitted him.

Budh Singh challenged his conviction on the ground that the other accused had been let off and also that there were several discrepancies in the FIR.

It was claimed that the FIR was dated July 30 though the murder is alleged to have occurred on July 31.

He also submitted that details of the incident's were incorrectly entered in the FIR and there were contradictions in the statements of Gyan Singh, a prosecution witness.