In Brief
Shantanu Sitaram was convicted along with two others for the murder of his wife Supriya, committed during a robbery on 23 December 2000. All three were sentenced to life imprisonment. Shantanu appealed, contending the marriage was a love marriage without dispute and that he was injured by unknown robbers. The High Court dismissed the appeals. The Supreme Court held that the prosecution had established through oral evidence (including witness accounts of prior association), medical evidence (ligature marks matching recovered rope), and recoveries (victim's gold ornaments found near co-accused's neighbourhood) a complete chain of circumstances proving guilt. The acquittal under conspiracy charges did not affect the murder conviction. Shantanu's defence was rejected as his false denials of knowing the co-accused contradicted reliable evidence. Appeals dismissed.
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