In Brief
Two men, Ranjit Kumar Haldar and his nephew, were convicted of murdering Netai Mohanta, a carpenter, whose body was found concealed under wooden flooring in a rented house in Sikkim. The appellants challenged the conviction, arguing the dead body was recovered based on the wife's disclosure statement (not the appellant's), that the FIR translator was not examined, and that no DNA testing confirmed identity. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that where an accused has exclusive possession of premises where a death occurs, Section 106 of the Evidence Act shifts the burden to him to explain how outsiders accessed the house. The dead body's identity was reliably established through eyewitness testimony identifying distinctive personal items and facial features. The Court found the appellants had failed to offer any plausible explanation for the death and dismissed the appeals.
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