In Brief
The State appealed against the acquittal of three respondents charged with murder and causing disappearance of evidence in connection with a death on railway tracks. The High Court had acquitted them, finding the prosecution's circumstantial evidence doubtful, contradictory, and unreliable. The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstantial evidence. Many key witnesses were not produced, most prosecution witnesses were hostile, and those examined gave contradictory statements. The Court reiterated that circumstantial evidence must be conclusive, consistent only with guilt, and exclude all reasonable hypotheses of innocence. The prosecution's case fell short of this stringent standard.
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