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Supreme Court of India 2024-05-07 dismissed

SUKHPAL SINGH vs NCT OF DELHI

Bench: 2 — B.R. Gavai, Sandeep Mehta

In Brief

The accused was convicted of murdering his estranged wife Usha through manual strangulation. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction based on circumstantial evidence: (1) the complainant's sworn statement under Section 299 CrPC describing the accused present with the victim on the murder night and fleeing thereafter; (2) a confessional note recovered at the crime scene, matched to the accused's handwriting by an expert; and (3) the accused's abscondence for 10 years. The Court held that the complete chain of circumstances—including motive (marital strife), last seen together, medical evidence, confession, and flight—exclusively pointed to the accused's guilt and was inconsistent with innocence. The appeal was dismissed and the life sentence upheld.

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Criminal Law Murder Circumstantial Evidence Handwriting Expert Evidence Criminal Procedure - Absconders Confessions and Admissions Burden of Proof

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