In Brief
A man was killed by a parcel bomb at his residence in Delhi on 2 October 1982. The accused, Lt. Col. S.J. Chaudhary, was convicted by the trial court for murder and offences under the Explosive Substances Act based on circumstantial evidence, including alleged motive (ex-wife living with the deceased), supposed access to explosives, and delayed eyewitness testimony. The Delhi High Court acquitted him, finding the chain of circumstances incomplete. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, holding that the prosecution failed to meet the rigorous tests for conviction on circumstantial evidence, particularly regarding eyewitness reliability, the weakness of motive alone, and deficiencies in expert evidence on typewriter comparison.
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