The Bombay High Court set aside a murder conviction and life sentence, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstances necessary to sustain guilt in a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence.
The case arose from the death of a man whose body was recovered from a creek in Navi Mumbai. The appellant had been convicted by the Sessions Court primarily on the basis of the recovery of a gold chain allegedly belonging to the deceased and pledged by the accused. However, several key links in the prosecution’s case, including the “last seen” theory, call records, and witness testimonies, had already been disbelieved.
The Court emphasised that a conviction in a circumstantial evidence case requires a complete and unbroken chain pointing only to the guilt of the accused, which was clearly absent in the present case. The court observed that “establishing one or two circumstances beyond reasonable doubt is not sufficient to hold that the entire chain of circumstances is complete…there must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused.”
Accordingly, the Court acquitted the appellant, reiterating that suspicion, however strong, cannot substitute proof beyond reasonable doubt.
Appeanaces
Ms. Trupti Khamkar (Appointed through Legal Services Committee) a/w Mr.Ashok A. Rao for the Appellant.
Dr. Dhanlakshmi S. Krishnaiyer, APP for the Respondent-State.
