In Brief
A businessman, Goverdhan Aggarwal, was shot and killed in September 2009 following extortion threats. The appellant, Pankaj Singh, was the sole person convicted by the trial court and High Court for murder (Section 302 IPC), concealment of evidence (Section 201 IPC), and illegal firearm possession (Arms Act). The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and acquitted him. The Court held that in circumstantial evidence cases, guilt must be established with certainty, not mere probability. The investigating officer's conduct showed numerous procedural lapses, independent witnesses did not support prosecution, and all co-accused were acquitted. The High Court's standard of "all human probability" was erroneous; the correct test requires all evidence to conclusively point to guilt as the only possibility.
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