In Brief
Two men were found dead on a roadside in Tamil Nadu in 1990, allegedly hit by a lorry and beaten with iron rods by eight accused persons who had conspired to murder the victim. The trial court convicted all eight under conspiracy charges and three for murder. The High Court reversed the conviction, finding the prosecution evidence unreliable—based largely on weak circumstantial evidence, inadmissible hearsay, and witnesses declared hostile. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence beyond reasonable doubt, the alleged conspiracy at a hotel could not be proved, and the deaths could have resulted from a hit-and-run accident by an unknown vehicle.
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