In Brief
Malaichamy and another appellant were convicted of murdering the 17-year-old son of a Tamil Nadu legislator and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court allowed their appeal and acquitted them. The case rested entirely on circumstantial evidence. The Court found the prosecution's evidence unreliable: the key witnesses delayed reporting their observations by a week without explanation, casting doubt on their credibility; the alleged motives (an unrelated romance, a repaid money loan, job dismissal, and business partnership refusal) were too tenuous and indirectly connected to the victim; and the two knives allegedly recovered were not properly sealed after seizure, rendering their evidentiary value suspect. The Court held the appellants were entitled to the benefit of doubt and ordered their immediate release.
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