In Brief
A three-and-a-half-year-old girl went missing in 2006 and was later found dead. The appellants were convicted of kidnapping and murder based on circumstantial evidence including recovery of the girl's scarf and a drawing book from their homes, identification at a telephone booth, and a witness account of seeing them with a stuffed bag. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence. Critical gaps existed: no proof that threatening calls were directed to the victims, no forensic analysis of the threatening letter, and timing inconsistencies with the postmortem findings. The court held the appellants entitled to the benefit of doubt and acquitted them.
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