In Brief
Three appellants (Nalini Dhapke, Kishore Bhadke, and Satish Bansod) were convicted of murder, abduction, and criminal conspiracy for killing Raman Tonpe on 8 May 2003, over a land transaction dispute. The trial and high courts found them guilty based on circumstantial evidence: motive (disputed land purchase), last seen together with the deceased, recovery of the victim's belongings (watch, ring), blood-stained clothes, and their participation in transporting and disposing of the body. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, holding that motive applicable to one conspirator in a murder conspiracy can extend to all conspirators, and that absence of documentary evidence or blood-group matching does not vitiate recovery of incriminatory articles when other overwhelming circumstantial evidence establishes guilt."
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