In Brief
A man was convicted of murdering his wife Pushpa in their home on 26 January 2012, with concurrent convictions under murder (IPC § 302), evidence tampering (§ 201), and cruelty (§ 498A). He claimed he was in a nearby garden (alibi) and that the death was suicide, noting the autopsy showed no hyoid bone fracture. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that (1) the alibi to a nearby location failed to meet the strict proof standard; (2) non-rupture of the hyoid bone alone cannot overturn the courts' concurrent finding of strangulation; and (3) his failure to offer satisfactory explanation under the Evidence Act § 106 regarding events in his own residence, combined with circumstances like torture of the deceased and delayed cutting of the noose, irresistibly pointed to guilt. The appeal was dismissed.
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