In Brief
A man was murdered, and the trial and High Court convicted the wife, brother, and brother-in-law of a colleague (all under Section 302 read with 34 IPC) on circumstantial evidence. The Supreme Court examined the case and found the evidence wholly insufficient for conviction. The supposed motive—an unproven loan—rested on hostile witnesses, including the deceased's own wife who denied knowledge of it. Extra-judicial confessions made inside the police station were inadmissible under Sections 25-26. Key witnesses turned hostile. Recovery of a weapon was based on unreliable simultaneous statements. The Court held that mere suspicion and an incomplete chain of circumstances cannot support conviction in a serious crime. All accused were acquitted and released.
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