In Brief
Dinesh Kumar was convicted of murder, kidnapping, robbery and criminal intimidation based on circumstantial evidence. He was last seen with the deceased on 8 May 2000; the body was found four days later. The Supreme Court allowed his appeal, finding the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Although the 'last seen' evidence placed the accused with the deceased, a 12+ hour gap between the sighting and probable time of death created reasonable doubt. Discoveries of personal items were insufficient to complete the necessary chain of circumstantial evidence. The Court emphasized that in cases relying on circumstantial evidence, the chain must be complete and point exclusively to the accused's guilt.
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