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Supreme Court of India 2017-09-22 dismissed

Shantanu Sitaram alias Anil Divekar vs State of Maharashtra

Bench: 2 — Ashok Bhushan

In Brief

A husband was convicted of murdering his wife Supriya, along with two co-accused, under Sections 302 and 34 IPC. The defence claimed he gave lift to three unknown robbers who committed the murder. The High Court acquitted them under Section 120-B (conspiracy) but upheld the murder conviction. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that acquittal under Section 120-B does not affect conviction under Section 302 read with 34. The Court found the chain of circumstances conclusively proved: the accused knew each other, the murder weapon matched recovered evidence, gold ornaments were recovered at the accused's instigation, and the defence of unknowns was disbelieved. Both courts' concurrent findings were sound.

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Criminal Law Murder Circumstantial Evidence Common Intention Criminal Procedure Conviction and Sentence

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