In Brief
On 1 October 2003, Umesh Chowdhary was murdered in Chhattisgarh. The trial court convicted Pradeep Kumar of murder under Section 302/34 IPC and destruction of evidence under Section 201/34 IPC, based primarily on an alleged extra-judicial confession and circumstantial evidence. The High Court upheld the conviction. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that an extra-judicial confession is weak evidence requiring careful scrutiny and corroboration. Here, the confession lacked reliable corroboration; witness PW-7 was himself a suspect, and the recovery of keys and money was unexplained. Examining the full circumstantial chain, the Court found the evidence did not establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, but allowed for alternative hypotheses consistent with innocence. The Court set aside the conviction and acquitted the appellant.
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