In Brief
The appellant was convicted of murdering his girlfriend's mother (Simbhiben) and brother (Mukesh) by strangulation, and attempting to kill her brother Rajdeep. The sole eye-witness was Rajdeep, who survived and initially made a dying declaration without naming the appellant, but named him in a later statement. The defence argued the contradictions rendered conviction unsustainable. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, holding that the eye-witness testimony was credible when corroborated by the accused's purchase and the recovery of a pesticide bottle from the crime scene. The Court noted the witness's young age and trauma justified the initial inconsistencies.
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