In Brief
A woman, Rajalakshmi, died six months after marriage in 2008. The Trial Court acquitted her husband (Ravi) and her aunt and uncle (Uma and Balasubramanian) of murder charges. The High Court reversed this, convicting them based on postmortem evidence showing she died from neck strangulation, not paint poisoning as claimed. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction, holding that the medical evidence, motive (illicit relationship), appellants' presence at home, and their false explanations formed a conclusive chain of circumstantial evidence proving guilt. The Court emphasised that appellants failed to explain how injuries occurred, shifting the burden under the Evidence Act in cases occurring in private homes.
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