In Brief
Two children, ages 6 and 7, disappeared on 9 January 2013. The family then received ransom calls from a mobile number, leading them to suspect the accused respondent—who had resented the children's grandmother inheriting property that he expected. Police recovered a SIM card matching the ransom calls number from the accused's house and discovered the children's bodies buried three feet underground on his property. The trial court convicted him under Section 302 IPC and imposed a death sentence. The High Court reversed this, holding he could not have inherited the property by killing only the children. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding the recovery of the SIM card from his house and the dead bodies from his compound—coupled with his failure to explain these circumstances—proved his guilt despite the technical point about inheritance. The Court restored the conviction but reduced the sentence to life imprisonment instead of death.
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